The road less traveled
Serving Christ as a lay missioner overseas is a life changing experience
By Mary Olenick
September/October 2013
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By our Baptism, we are all called to be missioners, signs of God’s healing love for the world. In our daily lives, we witness to that love through service to others in our families, communities, and churches. However, God continually calls some of us to leave behind the familiar and go out into the unknown, to other cultures in other lands. When we hear this call, we may feel inadequate, but we trust that God will use our ordinary talents to do extraordinary things.
Scarboro lay missioners have been leaving their footprints in mission overseas since the 1970s. We have worked alongside Scarboro priests, each complementing the other, in many mission countries. From time to time religious sisters participate in our four month lay formation program and work with us in mission overseas.
When you go to mission overseas, you do not need a lot of words. What you need is openness, a listening heart, and the willingness to lend a hand to another and to be witnesses to Christ’s love for all. You need to be a person of faith, prayer, and humility, and have a sense of humor. You will be a stranger in another land and culture, learning to adapt, maybe learning a new language, and making mistakes. You must be able to laugh at yourself!
Admission Requirements
To become a Scarboro lay missioner, you must be:
- Catholic, active in the Canadian church, and expressing your faith in service to others
- A Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- Adaptable and in good physical and psychological health
- Willing to make a three-year commitment without home visits, except for a family emergency (life threatening illness or death)
- Age 23–55 years (exceptions are considered)
- Committed to trying to learn a foreign language when your mission work calls for it
- College or university educated or have specific professional training and/or work experience
- Single, or a married couple with independent adult children. Both married partners must be Catholic.
- Debt free and free from student loan obligations.
Formation class 2013 in Toronto with Fr. Russ Sampson, formation program facilitator; Carolyn Doyle, short term lay mission coordinator; Kathy Murtha, Mission Centre coordinator; and lay missioner Donna Joy Tai.
Volunteering and placement
As a new missioner, every effort is made to place you according to your skills, matched with the needs of the overseas community. You may be asked to be open and adaptable to working in areas where you may not feel as proficient. However, you will be placed where there is adequate support, preferably with a Scarboro team already present.
Financial
Lay missioners are expected to live a simple lifestyle in mission. Scarboro provides financial support for travel to and from the overseas placement, as well as housing, food, and transportation related to the work. You will also receive health insurance, a small stipend, and a yearly retreat.
Scarboro lay missioners Cynthia Chu in China, Kate O’Donnell in Guyana
Length of service
Scarboro Missions requires a minimum three year commitment, which includes the four months of formation. After the three years, some people have renewed their contracts and stayed on. This year we are also running a one-year short term lay mission program as a pilot project that is targeted to young adults.
The application process
When you enter the application process, there is a two-way discernment that takes place and continues throughout the process. This gives you and Scarboro Missions the opportunity to discern if our program is a good fit for you.
The process begins with the following steps:
Scarboro lay missioner Kate O’Donnell in Guyana
- The application (providing personal information, skills, education, work experience, references and personal reflection)
- Writing a short autobiography
- Interviews at Scarboro with a team of both Scarboro priests and lay members
- Vocational assessment at a professional facility
- Notification regarding acceptance into the program
During the four month formation program you will live in community at Scarboro and all expenses related to the program are looked after by Scarboro. You will be responsible for your personal expenses only.
Classes are Monday to Friday but occasionally spill over into evenings and weekends. Spirituality for mission, working as a team and being part of a community are important aspects of formation. In mission overseas, we strive to work not as lone rangers but as a team, collaborating together.
Formation studies include Emotional Wellness in Mission, Cultural Adaptation, Missiology, Scripture, Justice and Peace, Team Building, Social Analysis, the History of Scarboro, Myers Briggs/Enneagram, Spirituality, World Religions and Interreligious Dialogue.
Sister Ann MacDonald, CSJ, in Malawi
At the end of the program, a missioning ceremony and mass are held at Scarboro with your family and friends joining in the celebration. At this time, you will read your commitment statement, sign a contract, and be officially presented as a Scarboro lay missioner.
A second missioning ceremony is held in your home parish with a member of Scarboro’s General Council and Lay Mission Office attending. This parish missioning helps to raise the awareness of the parish community that they too have a part in your journey. They will have the opportunity to support, learn about, and share in your overseas missionary vocation while you are in mission.
You will be able to spend time at home for a couple of weeks to say farewell to family and friends before returning to Scarboro to embark on your mission placement.
The process of becoming a lay missioner with Scarboro is a wonderful experience of personal and spiritual growth and of life in community that will add to the foundation of faith and commitment that you already have. As you journey out in mission, we trust that God will give you whatever you need to do your part in furthering the Reign of God.
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