Today I wanted to share some inspiring words from the Latin American Bishops which capture Glenmary's sense of mission. Now is the time! And for Glenmary, the mission is here in the United States. We go to places where the Church is not present in the rural and neglected regions of the U.S.

A great example is in Eastern Tennessee where Glenmary is building up new missions in Union and Grainger Counties. Fr. Steve celebrated the first mass from their rented home in the area last weekend. Br. Craig is sharing his skills with the community. There is no church building in the county yet but Church is happening and someday soon the Catholics will have a place to call home. Other places around the U.S. still need you to share your gifts and to help spread the Gospel of Love to all peoples.

“We cannot let this hour of grace slip by. We need a new Pentecost! We need to go out to meet individuals, families, communities, and peoples to communicate to them, and share the gift of encounter with Christ, who has filled our lives with “meaning,” truth and love, joy and hope! We cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings, but we must move out in all directions to proclaim that evil and death do not have the last word, that love is stronger, that we have been liberated and saved by the Lord’s paschal victory in history, that He calls us into Church, and wants to multiply the number of his disciples and missionaries in building his Kingdom….”

—Concluding document of the Fifth General

Conference of Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean at Aparecida, Brazil, 2007