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Missionary
Cenacle Volunteers |
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While few people can claim a beatific vision like the prophet Isaiah's, many of us have felt the presence of God deep in our hearts. This experience of God's love can compel us to direct our lives in a variety of ways. As missionaries, we strive always to help make the people we serve become more aware of God's love for them. |
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| Through the years, we have been fortunate to have attracted men and women willing to share our missionary work, eager to spend themselves for others. |
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Missionary Cenacle Volunteers (MCV) program provides an avenue for temporary
service within, and even beyond, the Missionary Cenacle Family. It is sponsored
jointly by the four branches of the Cenacle: our Trinity Missionary priests,
Brothers, and Deacons; our Sister community; our lay associates of the Missionary
Cenacle Apostolate; and our secular institute, the Blessed Trinity Missionary
Institute. This year, more than twenty volunteers were commissioned for a year of missionary work. They are a diverse mix: single men and women, married couples, some fresh out of college, others retired. Several have been serving on the missions for a few years already, but most are new to this kind of life. Volunteers work directly with our priests, Brothers and Sisters in exchange for room and board, health insurance and a small monthly stipend. Some volunteers will also be placed with a diocesan parish or another agency not associated with us, but where there is an opportunity to serve the poor. Missionary Cenacle Volunteers provide a valuable service to our missions - many of our programs would not function without them. Our volunteers serve alongside our sisters in New Jersey, with our priests and brothers from Tucson, Arizona to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and as teachers, nurses, youth ministers and in a variety of service capacities. The transition to missionary life can be difficult. For many, community living is a new experience that takes getting used to. Some volunteers move into a culture very different from their own. Others find themselves doing work they never dreamed they could do. At times, feelings of loneliness and frustration attempt to take hold. Most volunteers, though, would agree that the rewards are many and far outweigh the disadvantages or drawbacks. The men and women serving as Missionary Cenacle Volunteers this year will learn that living an apostolic life cannot be a part-time commitment. It is a way of living our whole life. But they are eager to spend themselves for others. Having stepped out in faith, these ordinary people will accomplish very extraordinary things in God's name. When Bishop Houck preached at the commissioning Mass for the Missionary Cenacle Volunteers back in 1985, he made a startling statement. "Today your lives will be ruined," he told them. "You will never be the same." |
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The men and women he was addressing have long ago completed their service
to the missions and gone back to their families and careers. From our experience
with the Missionary Cenacle Volunteers through the years, though, it seems
safe to assume that all of them would say that Bishop Houck was right! |
 Bonnie
Hackett, in her 4th year as an MCV, manages Los Angelitos, a children's
thrift store in Philadelphia that supports one of our missions,
Hospitality House. |
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