Why do we go

							SHORT TERM MISSION
       TRIP
    WHY DO WE GO?
QUESTIONS WE ASK
   OURSELVES

     •   What are we going to do?
     •   Is it safe over there?
     •   Do they sleep in beds?
     •   Do we have to eat beans
         everyday?
     •   What happens if I get
         sick?
     •   Is the water safe to drink?
     •   Can I call home?
     •   Will they understand me?
IMPORTANT QUESTION: WHY DO WE GO?



              • Preach the
                gospel?
              • Teach
                catechism?
              • Build a house?
              • Help in a clinic?
              • Serve the poor?
              • Learn from the
                people?
               We Go To
          Walk With The People
“Mission is not just a
matter of doing things
for people. It is first of
all a matter of being
with people, of listening
to and sharing with
them.”

(from “Mission in Today’s World”
by Donal Dorr)
REASON FOR MISSION
         • Not to help
           others
         • Not to teach
           others
         • Not to convert
           others
         • For our own
           conversion
WHAT IS THIS PERSONAL
   CONVERSION?

        • Change in the way I
          view life
        • Change in what I do
        • Change in what I have
        • Change in who I count
          as friends
        • Change in questions I
          ask myself
        • Change in what issues
          I pay attention to
        • Change in who and
          what I give my
          allegiance to
           VIEWPOINT


Our viewpoint
depends on our
standpoint
                   SEE ANEW




“You have to run with your own feet to some place you haven’t
been before – to a new place. You have to leave the world
where you have everything under control. You have to leave
the world where everybody likes you. You have to head into a
world where you are poor and powerless. And there you will be
converted, despite yourself”
                             Simplicy by Richard Rohr
    OLD WAY OF THINKING

• Poor are poor
  because of bad luck
• Poor are lazy people
• Poor need our help
• We respond to the
  poor by our charity
• We are different
  than the poor
    NEW WAY OF THINKING
• Poor must be free to
  live their lives
• Poor should not be
  objects of sympathy
• Christians respond to
  the poor in solidarity
  not charity
• Christians make friends
• Friends support one
  another
   SOLIDARITY IS POLITICAL
          CHARITY




“Only those who make the rights of brother and
sister their duty, co-working liberation with them,
can be said to act in solidarity.”
                              Bishop Pedro Casadáliga
ACT ON BEHALF OF JUSTICE

“By entering the world of
deprived people one
extends and deepens the
experience of ‘suffering
with’ those on the
margins. And, by doing
so, one comes to share
not only their pain and
struggle but also their
hopes…”
           Donal Dorr
  MISSION CHALLENGES US TO
DEVELOP A GLOBAL SPIRITUALITY
•   Acquire an awareness of human
    rights and some initial
    understandings about human
    responsibilities to others.
•   Recognize the call to enter into
    solidarity and realize our
    interdependence with the poor,
    especially the poor of the third
    world who are often poor
    because of oppression.
•   Have a deeper relation to God’s
    creation itself, the earth.
•   Be open to a greater bonding
    with peoples of other cultures
    and faiths as we see the
    commonalities of faith and
    belief.
    THE REASON WE GO: COME
            AND SEE
• Like the two disciples who followed
  Jesus long ago, we have asked
  “Where do you stay?” And we have
  heard Jesus say, “Come and See.”
• And each time we go to see, Jesus
  calls us further and further – to look
  ever more deeply; to see much
  more than what meets the naked
  eye.
• Our hope is that we will not be like
  those with calloused hearts and dull
  vision but that Jesus will be able to
  exclaim of us as he did of his first
  disciples, “Blessed are your eyes,
  for they see; and your ears because
  they hear.” (Matt: 13:16)
     AND WHEN WE COME
     BACK? WHAT NOW?

We step forward
as a public
Church by
following Jesus in
the practice of
compassionate
justice
POSSIBLE AREAS OF
    CONCERN
   • Values and Culture
   • Housing
   • Literacy and
     education
   • Health and Wellness
   • Environment
   • Jobs and Wages
   • Immigration
WILL YOU TAKE UP THE
    CHALLENGE?
 “Christian faith is a way of life shaped by
  practices, by what Christians do in the
   world in response to the gift of God’s
                    grace”
                 Don Richter