By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

When Holy Spirit Missionary Sister Maria Burke arrived in New Guinea in the 1970s, it was the end of the colonial era. Things were easier for missionaries then, she said, because most people did as the missionaries—and their colonial rulers—told them.

But as less-developed countries became independent and the spirit of Vatican II took hold within the church, missionary life changed.

“For a long time, mission was the church parallel to colonialism,” Burke said. But Vatican II brought a new attitude of respecting different cultures.

“It’s not like we were the good ones and everyone else was going to hell, so we were going to baptize you whether you wanted to or not. Years ago, it was like that sometimes.”

Of the roughly 300 Chicago-area residents who were supported in part in the missioon work by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Mission Office in 2003, seven or eight were lay people, Burke said. Others were ordained or religious, but many do not intend to spend their lives as missionaries.

The old model had religious priests, brothers and sisters devoting their lives to work in far-flung places around the world. That has shifted, with religious and lay people opting for limited time commitments, often joining one- to three-year programs operated by some of the same religious congregations that were the powerhouses of missionary work.

Of course, many of those congregations are still sending lifelong missionaries abroad; groups such as Maryknoll, the Jesuits and the Society of the Divine World priests and nuns still dedicate their lives to carrying the word of God around the world. But often they offer opportunities for shorter-term service as well.

For example, the Jesuit Volunteers International offers young men and women the opportunity to spend two years serving in another country, while the domestic Jesuit Volunteer Corps asks young people for a one-year commitment. Maryknoll started its lay missioner program 10 years ago.

While the shift in mission work reflects the increased participation of the laity in all areas of church life, it also reflects financial realities, Burke said.

“There’s a lot of thinking about just salaries here,” she said. “Years ago, when religious were missionaries, they were basically volunteers, living on the benefits of someone else’s labor. You didn’t have to worry about supporting older members; they just died.”

Now many mission volunteers not only are making a temporary sacrifice by not participating in the commercial workforce for a year or two; many are asked to raise the money to support themselves while they are volunteering.

For example, Daniel Johnston and the Myette family must raise a combined $32,000 before starting their 27-month commitment to work at a Catholic orphanage in Honduras. The archdiocesan missions office is helping by covering their insurance, Burke said.

Those changes came just as the information technology revolution made the world a much smaller place. Sixty years ago, when a Jesuit missionary left the United States for India, he was told to say his last goodbyes to his family.

Now, Johnston and the Myettes are planning a e-mail list of correspondents who will receive regular news, plan to update the Web sites while they are gone and will both receive visits from relatives while in Honduras and make at least one visit home. Some volunteers have standing appointments to call their parents once a week, Michael-John Myette said.

For Erika Myette, who has never lived more than a couple of hours from the South Holland home where she was raised, knowing that she can keep in contact and take a little time off made the opportunity much more attractive.

“A volunteer who is supported is going to be much happier and more productive,” she said.



—By Michelle Martin

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