May 4, 2020
 

The next Accompaniment and Solidarity video gathering is this Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 12 pm ET, 11 am CT, 10 am MT, and 9 am PT. REGISTER HERE to access the meeting.

The meeting will focus on three issues:

• What does accompaniment among missionaries look like today?
• What does solidarity among missions look like today?
• What will “reopening” look like?

Over 150 people registered for Bishop James Schuerman’s webinar titled “Let Us Cross to the Other Side (Mark 4:35) – A Border-Crossing Spirituality of Mission.” Bishop Jim’s presentation was well-received, generated a lot of good questions and conversation, and engaged people from all over the country.

The video is already posted on USCMA’s website. You can access it HERE. On the same page, you can access the presentation slides. Bishop Jim has given USCMA permission to publish his talk and that will be available soon.

In the resources below you will find a link to Bishop Robert Barron’s homily yesterday, for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, where he reflects on the Acts of the Apostles and Peter’s “evangelical preaching.” His homily, which is excellent, raises some interesting questions about an evangelical approach to mission and a more contextual approach to mission. Share your comments on USCMA’s Facebook Page. Let’s begin a substantial, and respectful, dialogue about mission – its evangelical nature, the centrality of witness, the importance of context, and what it means to “preach the Good News.”

Prayer

• USCMA grieves with our brothers and sisters from Maryknoll who have lost so many to Covid-19. We want to be with you in your sorrow just as we want to be with you as you remember and celebrate the gift your sisters and brothers were to the world. Because of their dedication to mission, the world is a little smaller, more interdependent, more faithful, and further along the road to universal peace.
• Pope Francis wrote two prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. One was used to open the webinar this past week and is HERE for your personal and communal use.
• Our good friend Bob Eilenfeldt shared a beautiful prayer to St. Roch and it is available HERE.

Solidarity

• Good news from Vietnam. Due to a quick, coordinated, and aggressive response to Covid-19, the country is reopening, and public Mass has resumed.
• The Redemptorist Missionaries in Haiti reports the situation there is dire. USCMA would like to hear from all missionary religious communities, and missionary parishes, about their efforts to support our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Please send that information directly to Don McCrabb (dmccrabb@uscatholicmission.org).

Resources

• If you have not seen it, treat yourself to a bedtime story – told in the future time – recalling what we have learned from Covid-19. It is called The Great Realisation, by Tom Foolery. You can watch it here on YouTube.
• Bishop Robert Barron preached on the Acts of the Apostles yesterday, for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. His homily is a significant consideration of what he calls “evangelical preaching.” You can watch his homily HERE on YouTube.