What is your mission in life?

By Mary Olenick
September/October 2011

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Have you ever asked yourself, What is my mission in life? What is God calling me to today? By our very baptism, we are all called to be missioners, signs and witnesses of God’s love for the world, in service to others. Most of us are called to mission within our families, our communities and our churches. However, God continually calls some of us to leave behind the familiar and go out into the unknown. When we hear the call, we may feel inadequate, but we trust that God uses our ordinary talents to do extraordinary things.

Scarboro lay missioners have been leaving their spiritual footprints in mission overseas since the 1970s. We have worked alongside Scarboro priests in many countries. Today, the Scarboro lay program continues, with our numbers rising and falling as people come and go. Some join us for the minimum three-year commitment, while others stay for many years.

Lay program candidates and other participants attending a formation class, part of Scarboro’s four-month mission preparation.

We may be single women and men, or married couples with independent adult children. From time to time reli-gious sisters have joined us, participating in Scarboro’s lay mission program prior to going overseas.

To take part in Scarboro’s program, you must be:

1. Catholic and active in the Canadian Church
2. A Canadian citizen or permanent resident
3. In good physical and psychological health, able to adapt to new environments and challenges
4. Willing to make a three-year commitment without home visits except when there is a family emergency (life threatening illness/death)
5. General age, 23–55 (exceptions are considered on a case by case basis)
6. Committed to trying to learn a foreign language when your mission work calls for it
7. A college or university graduate, or have specific professional training and/or work experience
8. Free from student loan obligations

Application Process

When you begin your application, Scarboro helps you to continue your discernment to see if this is truly where God is calling you. After you are accepted into the program, the discernment continues. There are five steps to the application process:

1. Completing the application form (personal information, skills, education, work experience, references and personal reflection)
2. Submitting an autobiography, with character references, along with completed medical and dental forms
3. Interviews at Scarboro
4. Vocation assessment
5. Notification of acceptance into the program.

Formation Program

Candidates live in community at Scarboro during their four months of formation and are responsible for their personal expenses. Classes are Monday to Friday, but may occasionally spill over into weekends and evenings. Important areas of formation include spirituality for mission, working as a team, and being part of a community. In mission overseas, we strive to work as a team, collaborating together as a Scarboro community. Other areas of study include cultural adaptation, justice and peace issues, social analysis, interreligious dialogue, and other topics related to life in overseas mission, walking with people of another land and culture.

The lay and priest members who make up the Malawi mission team (L-R): Leslie Paranuik, Barbara Michie, Fr. Jim McGuire, and Sr. Ann MacDonald, CSJ.

Finances

In mission overseas, we live a simple lifestyle. Scarboro provides financial support for travel to and from the overseas placement, transportation related to work, as well as housing, food, health insurance, a yearly personal retreat and a small stipend.

Placement

Every effort is made to match your skills with the needs of the mission country where you are sent. You will be placed where there is adequate support, preferably where a Scarboro team is already present.

Missioning

When the program is completed, a missioning ceremony takes place at Scarboro for all the new missioners, and family and friends are welcome to attend. During the Mass, you will read your commitment statement and sign your three-year mission contract with Scarboro.

A second missioning ceremony is held at your home parish with representatives from Scarboro attending. Through this important celebration, your parish community also blesses and sends you on your mission journey, and is able to learn more about and support your vocation to serve abroad.

Finally, you will spend a couple of weeks at home saying farewell to family and friends before leaving for your mission placement.

The process of preparing to become a Scarboro lay missioner is a wonderful experience of personal and spiritual growth, and of life in community, adding to the foundation of faith and commitment that you already have. As a missioner in another land, you will learn, grow and be challenged. You go in trust, knowing that God will give you whatever you need to take part in the beautiful work of building a world of justice, peace and love.

At her missioning ceremony, Leslie Paranuik (left) signs her three year contract with Scarboro, witnessed by Kate O’Donnell

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