New Maryknoll lay missioners recite their “Commitment Prayer” at the Queen of Apostles Chapel in Ossining, N.Y., Dec. 11, 2021. Photos by Patrick Norberto
OSSINING, NY — On Saturday, Dec. 11, 13 new Maryknoll lay missioners were called forth and sent into mission. The Sending Ceremony took place at the Queen of Apostles Chapel on the Maryknoll campus in Ossining, New York.
The liturgy marked the completion of the new missioners’ eight-week orientation and formation program. The extensive program prepared them for cross-cultural ministries in six countries around the world: Bolivia, Brazil, El Salvador, Kenya, Tanzania, and the U.S.-Mexico border.
From left, Ted Miles, Father Lance Nadeau, MM; Sister Teruko Ito, MM; and Marj Humphrey bless the mission crosses.
In his remarks to the new missioners during the celebration, Robert Ellsberg, the publisher of Orbis Books, encouraged them to follow what Pope Francis calls “journey faith.” In journey faith, he said, “We find God along the way, in history, in the twists and turns of experience, in our unexpected encounters and relationships with others. In this model, we don’t have all the answers in advance. We learn and grow along the way. Stumbling, doubts and uncertainty are all part of the journey. It can be risky, but it is dynamic — it is open to conversion and learning new things. It is open to the surprising promptings of the Holy Spirit.”
Ellsberg added that journey faith demands of us “a continuous willingness to go beyond ourselves, to move beyond our certainties, our comfort zones, our familiar shores and harbors, to cast our nets into the deep waters, to go where the spirit is calling us. The bold declaration ‘Here I am! Send me!’ is not just something to say the day you arrived at Maryknoll, or today in this Sending ceremony. It is something to be renewed and repeated over and over.”
As they are about to embark on a great journey, Ellsberg noted, the missioners’ “readiness to bring the love of Jesus to others will not begin on the day you arrive in your mission assignment, and it will not end on the day you return. It began from the day you first said, ‘Here I am! Send me!’”
Bob Cunningham, who will be serving in El Salvador, receives his mission cross from Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ director of missions, Marj Humphrey.
Saturday’s ceremony, he said, was “not about sending you on mission, but recognizing and blessing the mission that you are, your identity as those who are sealed and branded by God’s mission of light, love and solidarity. For those of us witnessing and blessing you in this Sending Ceremony, it is an opportunity to renew our own mission, our own sense of purpose and reason for being in this world. We remember the occasions in our own lives when we heard a voice call, ‘Whom shall I send?’ and the ways we responded by declaring, ‘Here I am! Send me.’ And we renew that declaration today.”
During the Sending, the new missioners were “called forth” for their three-and-a-half-year ministry commitments in their respective mission regions in both English and the local language of their region.
As part of the celebration, the new missioners also received their mission crosses and expressed their commitment “to witness the Good News of Jesus Christ, in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are marginalized and oppressed.” They committed themselves “to care for the earth, our common home, and to respond in service to help create a more just and compassionate world.”
This year’s “Class of 2021” is Maryknoll Lay Missioners’ largest since 2005. The new lay missioners come from 10 different states and include people who are single, married and one religious sister. They will depart around New Year for their respective mission sites, where they will receive extensive in-country language training and cultural orientation before they begin their ministry assignments.
Since 1975, more than 700 Maryknoll lay missioners have been sent into mission to work with those at the margins for a more just, compassionate and sustainable world in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Today they continue to serve in nine countries in a wide range of ministries that include health care and health promotion, education and leadership development, justice and peace, faith formation and pastoral care, and sustainable development.
Photos by Pat Norberto and Lupe Garcia
Click on the photos to view full size.
Ted Miles
Procession
Opening Prayer
Invocation
Reading Isaiah
Robert Ellsberg
Bolivia Calling
Sr. Zwareva
Brazil calling
Kathy Kang
Kenya calling
Deirdre Griffin
Commitment Prayer
Commitment 1
Commitment2
Commitment 3
MSD Applause
Group shot
Group1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Tanzania bound
Jaclyn and Josh
Compelled by faith to engage with people across cultures and ethnicities, Maryknoll lay missioners live, love and work with communities on the margins to promote active nonviolence and healing.
