June, 2009         

Dear friends,
In the mission awareness talks that I’ve given over the years, there is a phrase that is always used: We are all missionaries. Our recent celebrations of the Ascension and Pentecost show us why. Christ has sent us to continue His work and has given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28: 19-20).” The Sacrament of Baptism made us all missionary disciples of Christ. That is both our identity and our task. Within the call to priestly ministry, the baptismal commission to mission takes on new dimensions. This month we will reflect on the way two missionaries have lived their baptismal call: one over the course of fifty years and another who has recently begun his ministry in a mission in Ecuador named the Baptism of Jesus.

At the time of His Baptism, the true identity and mission of the Lord are revealed. A new relationship – a more intimate communication – with the living God is revealed through the three details of the moment described in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke). The heavens are opened, the Spirit descends, and a voice is heard. There can now be a deeper communication between God and humankind. It is a time of a new creation. The identity of the newly Baptized is revealed: Beloved Son. By stepping into the waters of repentance in John the Baptist’s rite, the sinless One embraces both solidarity with sinful humankind and solidarity with God’s salvific plan proclaimed by John. The voice announces the goal of that plan first seen in Jesus and made available to all through Jesus: to be the beloved of God. Thanks to our Baptism where we step into the waters of new life, we are forever the beloved daughters and sons of God.

Not a ritual of repentance as was John’s baptismal bath, the Sacrament of Baptism is birth into the new life in Christ. It unites us to Christ’s death and resurrection as participants in this saving act and uniting us as well with all the baptized. We are therefore constituted as the People of God and share in the mission Christ entrusted to the Church at the Ascension and empowered at Pentecost. This newborn faith needs a community of believers so that it may be strengthened and grow. And this body of believers has the right and the duty to work so that all can hear the gospel and know Christ.

The Church is missionary by her very nature. To continue the work of Christ we must follow in His footsteps. It is a path of poverty, obedience, service and self-sacrifice. Though all the baptized enjoy this beautiful faith obligation, Christ inspires in some people the foreign missionary vocation. Through this vocation they receive the special duty of preaching the Gospel in another culture, in another language, far from all that they know and love. The missionaries of the Society of St. James the Apostle walk this road by their Christian witness in prayerful solidarity with those in extreme poverty. In these settings they preach the Gospel and gather the people together around the table of the Lord. The Holy Spirit who has called them to this ministry, in turn, forms a Christian community.

When Cardinal Cushing founded the Society over fifty years ago, he had a vision of diocesan priests who would go on mission for five years. They would go to areas where no community existed, do the work of the missionary then turn the community over to the local clergy and head on to start over in another place. Upon completion of their term, they would return to the “sending diocese” and share the blessings of that experience. Over the course of the years, many have stayed beyond the five-year term. They have found that the Lord called them to a vocation for an entire lifetime. They were blessed with the grace to renounce themselves and all that they knew and loved to walk the missionary road.

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, Fr. Joseph Martin of the Archdiocese of Boston celebrated his final liturgy in Peru, fifty years and a month after arriving in Lima. When the Society celebrated its Golden Anniversary last year, Fr. Joe spoke of the moment with a special phrase: “What is good is never finished.” As he now becomes a Senior Priest in his beloved hometown, the same words can be applied. All the good done in so many years will now be seen in a continuing prayerful solidarity with all his brothers still in South America. We need your prayers, Joe. And the Red Sox couldn’t find a more loyal fan.

In the neighboring country to the north – Ecuador – another St. James missionary is at the beginning of his road: Fr. Colm Hogan of County Tipperary, Ireland, who works at the mission named the Baptism of the Lord.

Fr. Colm was ordained on June 13, 1998. Cardinal Seán O’Malley and the members of the Society welcomed him among us at the Annual General Meeting in February of 2007. Along with his priestly and missionary vocations, he has been blessed with an accounting precision, musical talent and the skills of an athlete. All these blessings are used to develop the new St. James mission.

The mission named the Baptism of Jesus is located in the Archdiocese of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Like most of our coastal area sites, it is on the outskirts of the city and is populated by those who have relocated from the mountains and the countryside. Needless to say, like all our locations, it is an area of extreme poverty.

The weather can be especially cruel in such an area. A basic dwelling is made of bamboo. In the dry season the dust and dirt are blown in abundantly. The four-month rainy season, which just recently ended, brings a harsher reality. The huts are flooded, floors turn to mud and the mosquitoes and other insects have a free hand to bring discomfort and sickness.

In this difficult setting the presence of Fr. Colm gives witness to the Good News that Christ, who is in solidarity with sinful humankind, stands in a preferential solidarity of love with His poorest sisters and brothers. The people respond in faith to this witness and that faith is the anchor of their lives.

Together with the people of La Parroquia del Bautismo de Jesús Fr. Colm is working on many projects. Some of these are the building of a chapel and other facilities in one sector of the parish, a fully equipped new school and convent and the building of the central parish church. It will hold over three hundred people and is being built next to the parish house. The current small chapel will be used as a center for religious education and sacramental preparation.

So that the faith of both the children and the adults may grow, Fr. Colm develops programs of Christian faith formation. The faithful have the right to receive the sacraments, to be nourished by the Word of God and sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church. Fr. Colm’s efforts turn this right into a reality.

The whole Church is missionary because we are baptized in the Lord and have been given by the Lord the work of sharing His Good News. Some of us do this far, far away. Others do it at home. You, by your generosity, share your faith and enable us to do so as well. Thank you and God bless.

Sincerely,

Fr. Kevin Hays
Director     

Fr. Colm Hogan, of La Parroquia del Bautismo de Jesús, (The Parish of the Baptism of Jesus), points out the flooded areas.

Fr. Joe Martin prepares for one of his final Masses in Peru.

Parishioners of Cristo Luz del Mundo (Christ Light of the World) line up to wish Fr. Joe Martin a final farewell.

Fr. Joe Martin says Mass at the parish church of Cristo Luz del Mundo.

Fr. Colm Hogan makes a visit to the members of the communtity. Every Tuesday in this sector, the locals meet at 5pm in different houses to say the rosary and get together.

This is a road which split in two during this year's rainy season, affecting 10,000 families for over a week.

The torrential rains flood the region.

Fr. Colm Hogan visits the site of the new parish church, located beside the recently constructed rectory.

The Corpus Christi chapel currently serves the parish while the main church is under construction.

Parishioners of El Bautismo de Jesús work together to build a retaining wall around the new church, which will help protect against floods and mudslides.