Oración por las Misiones Nacionales

Señor Jesucristo, por la salvación de todo el mundo fundaste tu Iglesia en la sangre de tu sacrificio en la cruz. Mira con misericordia a la gente de nuestra tierra. Muchas personas por las cuales sufriste tu pasión y muerte todavía no te conocen, ni saben de tu palabra. Encomendamos a tu Sagrado Corazón la labor de llevar tu Evangelio a las regiones misioneras de Norteamérica. Danos nuevos apóstoles santos para proclamar con entusiasmo tus palabras de salvación a los que tienen sed de la verdad. Ten misericordia de ellos, Señor, y mándanos pastores para guiarlos a tu único y verdadero redil. Amén.

Nuestra Señora de los Campos, ruega por ellos.
San José, amigo de las almas olvidadas, ruega por ellos.
Santos Apóstoles y Mártires, ruegan por ellos.
Santos Confesores y Vírgenes, ruegan por ellos,

Que a través de nuestra labor, podamos ganarles el don Divino de la fe.

—Padre W. Howard Bishop, 1939

Jornada Vocacional

Estoy pasando la semana en un pueblo que se llama Yahualica en el estado de Jalisco, cerca de San Juan de los Lagos. Estoy con 30 promotores vocacionales para promotor vocaciones a la vida sagrada. Que bonita idea, a visitar los ranchos y platicar con los jóvenes para sembrar la semilla de ser sacerdote, hermano o hermana. Es un oportunidad para compartir nuestra historia vocacional y información de nuestra congregación. Esperamos que muchos jóvenes tomar en cuenta esta idea para seguir la voluntad de Dios y luchar para construir el reino de Dios. Rezamos para ellos que están en el proceso de discernimiento. Todos los días pasáramos platicando con los jóvenes en sus casas y en las noches celebramos y dar unas temas acerca de la vida religioso.

Que Dios nos manda mas personas para ser misioneros a los misiones de los Estados Unidos.

Looking for Prospects

As I prepare for the VOCATIONS WEEK has in Yahaulica, I am back in San Juan for the night. A few years back I lived here in San Juan and studied at the seminario for one semester. I am blessed to still have lots of friends and contacts in the area. It is exciting to bump into friends on the street and get caught up on all the news. And I must admit I love walking the streets of San Juan with all the pilgrims. This place is truly Holy ground and a special place to visit.

Thank you God for this opportunity to be here amongst your people and share in this journey of faith with so many of your good servants.

San Juan de los Lagos

Arrived in San Juan de los Lagos yesterday for ten days of Vocations work. First and foremost I will be able to spend some time visiting with the Glenmary students studying in the seminary. There are currently two men studying philosophy in the seminary in San Juan. When they finish their philosophy studies here, they will move into the house of formation in St Meinrad, Indiana. There they will begin taking more English classes and eventually finish their degrees in theology and formation with Glenmary. What great men we have studying here and I am certain will make magnificent missioners. Please continue to hold them in your prayers, as well as pray for the other candidates I meet with this week.

After visiting the men in the seminary I will be participating in a Vocations promotions week with the Diocese and then travel out to visit with a couple of new prospects who have been in contact with our office. Should be a great week!

Monseñor Óscar Romero

"Una iglesia que no sufre persecución, sino que está disfrutando los privilegios y el apoyo de las cosas de la tierra - ¡tenga miedo! - no es la verdadera Iglesia de Jesucristo." Óscar Romero

"...toda persona que lucha por la justicia, que busca reivindicaciones justas en un ambiente injusto, está trabajando por el Reino de Dios" Óscar Romero

"Si denuncio y condeno la injusticia es porque es mi obligación como pastor de un pueblo oprimido y humillado" Óscar Romero

"La Iglesia no debe meterse en política, pero cuando la política toca el altar de la Iglesia. ¡A la Iglesia le toca defender su altar!" Óscar Romero

"También las circunstancias desconocidas pueden ser afrontadas con la gracia de Dios. Él ha asistido a los mártires y, si es necesario, lo sentiré muy próximo, al confiarle mi último suspiro. Pero más todavía que al enfrentarme con la muerte, necesitamos coraje al entregar toda la vida y vivir para Él." Óscar Romero

"Si denuncio y condeno la injusticia es porque es mi obligación como pastor de un pueblo oprimido y humillado" Óscar Romero

"El Evangelio me impulsa a hacerlo y en su nombre estoy dispuesto a ir a los tribunales, a la cárcel y a la muerte" Óscar Romero

Almost no Time to Blog

So much going on these days there is almost no time to blog... I got back from the LA Rel. Ed. Congress on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday I spent the day at Stephen T. Badin High School. It was a great day talking with the senior Religion Classes about Vocations, Glenmary and putting on a juggling show for the students. The lively discussions about vocations with the students was great fun but I was exhausted at the end of the day. I came home and took a nap. Today we have a Glenmary District Meeting which is our time to come together as a community to discuss important issues in the missions. The meeting will be an all day affair. Tomorrow I am off to Mexico to visit our men studying at the Seminary in the Diocese of San Juan de los Lagos. I will also participate in the Diocesan Vocation Week which starts on Saturday. Vocation week includes visiting with many different families and youth and promoting vocations in the church with the 30 or so other vocation directors participating in the program. After the week is over I will be visiting a couple of vocation prospects and hopefully encouraging them to submit their applications to Glenmary for the upcoming year. Lots going on but never too busy to talk with someone about a vocation with Glenmary. Give me a call or send me an email. Hope to blog some of my experiences in Mexico. If not check back with me when I get back.

LA Congress

Joe Melendrez's booth was in front of the Glenmary booth at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress this past weekend. Good music, great fun and high energy. People were dancing in the street!

LA Congress III

Los Angeles Religious Education Congress

Today, Saturday, was another great day at the Glenmary booth in the exhibitors hall. Wow! So many people. We gave away most of our printed materials to the participants, families, religious educators and potential prospects. Visitors at our booth today included former Glenmary co-workers, priests and other religious who have studied or worked with Glenmarians, other vocation directors, donors, former volunteers and many people who had never heard of our mission. This afternoon SO MANY young men stopped by the booth to talk about Glenmary it was exciting. Pat and I spoke with them all and shared a lot of information about Glenmary's wonderful ministry in the Mission-Land USA. Once again another great day full of meeting people and lots of high energy on the convention floor. The day ended at the Young Peoples Mass in the Anaheim Arena.

Thanks to all the organizers and everyone who is working so hard to pull off such a fabulous event.

Los Angeles Religious Education Congress

Glenmary Vocation Office has a booth (#664) at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. The first day today has been a great day of meeting with so many people. The participants were swarming all the booths in the exhibitors hall including ours. Great opportunity to share the story of our missions, the great need in Mission Land USA and to meet with some potential prospects for Glenmary Home Missioners. If you are at the Congress and have not stopped by our booth yet, you better hurry, our brochures, magazines and other give-aways are going fast! If we would have had room for more we could have brought twice as much information to give away. If you are not at the Congress you better make your reservations for next year! Going to bed early, tomorrow shall be another long but good day on the exhibitors floor. Hope to see you there!

Los Angeles Religious Educators Congress

Hold Firm ... Trust

Matente Firme ... ¡Confía!

Looking Forward to the Start of the LA Religious Educators Congress tomorrow. The 2011 Congress theme is highlighted above. Glenmary first started participating in this event last year. A little late but at least we are here - now two years in a row. Stop by booth #664 if you are here at the conference with us. Would love to meet you.

I think that events like this have three purposes:

First, to meet potential candidates for Glenmary Home Missioners.

Secondly to talk with teachers and give them materials to take back to their classroom where they can act as good promotes of Glenmary in the classrooms.

And Thirdly in order to share information about Glenmary's Religious education materials.

I think that the vocation seed needs to be planted in the home, and then watered and nurtured in school and church. None of it can be done without the Light of the world shining on the vocation seedlings as the pop out of the ground. So we thank God for our vocations and for all the wonderful people in our early life who helped us to recognize that call to serve.

Holy Week Retreat

Before you know it, Holy Week will be here. Looks like we will have a few men participating in our discernment retreat this year which will take place in a Glenmary Mission in Western Arkansas. If you are interested in finding out MORE information about this event please feel free to visit our website where you can download the information. Not only is a great chance to see the missions, meet some Glenmarians and have time for prayer and reflection. The retreat you also have a chance to spend some time with other men who, like you are discerning a call to join Glenmary.

If you are interested in visiting the missions but unable to make those particular dates contact me, Pat and I both are known to be great Mission Tour guides... Meaning we can sometimes work around your schedule and find a better weekend alternative to go out and visit the missions at another time. It will be a life-changing experience - Can you handle the challenge?

Applying to Glenmary

Last month I wrote an article about a the application process to Glenmary. I did that because this is the time of year that men begin the process of making a formal application. It is all part of the process of discernment. It is a process we walk through together. If you would like more information about the application process follow this link: Application Process

Before an application one usually has gotten to know us and visited the missions. If you are interested in doing this contact me by phone, facebook, email or old fashioned mail. We can try to schedule a tour of some of our missions. If you are available during Holy Week we will be holding a retreat in one of our missions in Arkansas for a few men who are interested in learning about Glenmary and wish to take the time to slow down and make Holy Week an important time for prayer and reflection. A link to the retreat information can found here: Holy Week Retreat

Here I Am Lord

I had a great weekend in St. Charles, Illinois at the Here I Am Lord Vocation Conference sponsored by St Patrick's Parish. It is a phenomenal event in which the whole parish comes together to host religious from all over the country in order that they have time to share their vocation story with the many young people in the diocese. I think this is the type of event that needs to be modeled at other parishes in other dioceses. It was a great celebration and provided much prayerful reflection time for those who might be discerning a call to religious life. Thanks to all of the organizers and so many people who helped out in so many ways - host families, peer counselors, prayer partners,breakfast cookers, table cloth washers, floor moppers, etc...

Hope all of the youth who participated had a great time as well. I have to believe those juggling with me and all the Salesians did! Looking forward to doing it again next year.

Good to Go and Good to be Back Home

Fr. Neil and I returned from our trip to Kenya on Wednesday - 24 hours of travel time! It was good we went, we hosted a retreat for five new men who are interested in either being Glenmary Priests or Brothers. We were very impressed by the dedication and desire of all of them to want to serve in the missions. The weekend retreat included interviews of all the men. Afterwards we had the opportunity to travel to all of the mens home and meet their families where we explained to them more information about Glenmary and our charism. Once again I mention how wonderful the hospitality in all of their homes was - a true meaning of welcoming the stranger. We also had time to visit a couple of men who are studying at Tangaza Seminary and preparing to join us in August. They too were wonderful hosts and we had a grand time touring in and around Nairobi with them! Another highlight included visiting the parish in Ulanda where Crispine, one of our current seminarians come from. Crispine and his classmate Aaron will be ordained deacons there in June. So it was good to meet with the pastor there and get an early view of the site where the ordination will take place. It is good to be back home but I am already looking forward to go back for the celebration in just a few months!