Mission Opportunities
Becoming a Lay Missioner
Are you a Catholic residing within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who is interested in short or long term lay missionary work in the U.S. or overseas? Opportunities to serve with our brothers and sisters in Christ, learn from them, and experience the beauty and diversity of our faith await you around the globe! You could do construction work during vacation in Appalachia with the Glenmary Home Missioners; nursing skills could be used in Belize with the Medical Missionaries; educators could minister in Kenya with the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. These are just a few of the opportunities awaiting those with a heart for mission!
The staff of the Mission Office can help you discern a potential call to mission, whether for a few months, a few years, or a lifetime. Contact us at [email protected] for more information. Also, visit the Catholic Volunteer Network at www.catholicvolunteernetwork.org for a wonderful directory of 200+ mission organizations seeking your faith and talents.
Taking a Mission Trip
Imagine celebrating the Eucharist with members of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, receiving hugs and smiles from Honduran children as they welcome you to visit their school, or holding the hand of an elderly woman in India as she seeks prayers and comfort. Mission trips aren’t about building houses and hospitals. They are about building relationships. Experiencing the diversity of our Catholic faith and the mutual impact made connecting with our sisters and brothers in other cultures is spiritually enriching and life changing, especially in a world that’s not experiencing enough love, mercy, and justice.
Current Missionaries
There are currently about 55 individuals from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who are serving in mission around the globe. If you are originally from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and are currently working in mission, or know someone who is, please let us know. We would love to be in contact with them.
Please include the following individuals in your daily prayers.
TRIPS - Domestic & abroad
Archdiocesan priests, staff, faculty, students and parishioners regularly travel both domestically and abroad for ministry related purposes.
International travel may pose health and safety risks, and for this reason, travelers are encouraged to carefully and thoroughly plan for trips prior to departure. Preparation for travel should take into consideration government warnings, Archdiocesan policies, health insurance including medical and security evacuation, and country-specific requirements.
Please contact the Risk Management office for additional questions and travel advice
Why Should We Go On Immersion/Mission Trips
- Not so much to do for others on short trips but to being with others, developing longer-term friendships with prayer and solidarity, growing together in Christ.
- Not to view others as objects of our pity but to become sisters and brothers in Christ, learning to eliminate the causes of ignorance, poverty and oppression together for the long haul.
- Not so much to convert, help, or teach others, but to invite our hosts to seek our conversions toward God together through dialogue about faith, struggles and dreams for God’s reign.
Why should we travel? Pope Francis says, “To get acquainted with other people and other cultures” as this experience “makes us grow”. “If we are isolated in ourselves, we have only what we have, we cannot develop culturally; instead, if we seek out other people, other cultures, other ways of thinking, other religions, we go out of ourselves and start that most beautiful adventure which is called ‘dialogue’”. Dialogue does not allow for closure and conflict, “because we talk to each other to find ourselves and not in order to quarrel”.
How shall we travel and dialogue? The Holy Father ask that we travel “With meekness! Develop the ability to find people, to find culture peacefully; develop the ability to ask intelligent questions like, “But why are you thinking like this? Why does this culture do this? Do this by “first listening, then speaking. All this is meekness.” 2013-08-22 L’Osservatore Romano
For an excellent mission trip planning booklet, “What about Short-Term Mission” A Guide for Leaders and Participants for Short-Term Mission Experiences” order from www.missiontomission.org.
The Third Wave of Mission is a source for video modules and services to help plan and improve mission trips and parish twinning relationships. Learn more.
The Archdiocesan Mission Office is ready to serve you as well at: [email protected].
