The novices undertake ministry in a limited way. Limited only in
the sense that they cannot commit themselves full-time to ministry. However, the
experience of ministry is valuable to formation, and the novices begin ministry from the
very beginning. They learn the value of internal and external ministry, and engage
in various kinds over the year. For example, they often teach in Catholic schools
(K-12), minister in soup kitchens, with the poor, or sick, etc.
Ministry gives the
novice an opportunity to serve God's people in a physical way. In very general
terms, there are two types of external ministry: ministry where you go to the people, and
ministry where the people come to you. The type of ministry the novices most often
partake in, is ministry where they go to the people. The novices have other
responsibilities, and are not generally available to the public. However, they also
serve God's people in the immaterial way of prayer. Many, many people ask the
novices to pray for them, and this request can be fulfilled.
The novices do not choose their ministry, rather they are assigned. The Novice
Master arranges for their ministerial opportunities, and looks to provide them with
different types of ministries. So too in the future, during the life of the friar
there are times of choosing ministry, but there are times when the ministry chooses
you. A friar may be assigned into a particular ministry to meet the needs of the
Province and Church at large. Other times, ministry may beckon and call through the
shear needs of the people. And in particular cases which abound, people come to the
friars in great, immediate need for spiritual care, or physical care of housing, clothing,
medicine, etc.
Another way in which the novices minister are through their presence. Just as
with you, the novices preach through their actions, words, example and fidelity to the
Lord. |
The novices visit one of our churches in our Mexicali Mission. Here in the missions,
the ministry called for us to build this church, but more importantly to build-up the Body
of Christ within the local community of the poor. (2001)
The novices visit another of our churches
in our Mexicali Mission. (2001)
Ministry at a desert location in Mexicali. Here the poor live with no running water,
no electricity, and houses constructed from whatever scrap metal, plastic, and wood they
can gather. This place of worship will one day be built into a church with more than
one wall. For the time being, it is the life blood of the faithful community of
dessert dwellers. (2001)
Here Br. James Moore hams it up with some of our favorite sisters, the Sisters of Mary
Mother Eucharist. This internal ministry is about recruiting vocations, and these
three joined a group of thirteen novices in Portland, Oregon for a vocations fair held at
Holy Rosary Parish. (2001) |
