Why We Are Called To Do Mission

I never would have imagined myself becoming a missionary. To be honest, I never cared enough to do it. Instead I focused on myself, like doing well in school, playing a lot of soccer, and enjoying my time with friends and having fun. Although I was raised in a Catholic household, religion and faith felt…

Fall Training 2019 Week 2

After a week of retreats and catching up, it’s time to get down to business. Human Dignity Presentations We started off this week by introducing our Human Dignity presentations to our missionaries. With the help of our second year missionary (Genesis) and Mission Team Manager (Lucas), our missionaries had the opportunity to experience the Human…

Fall Training 2019 Week 1

After a long time apart, we are back together for another time of training and formation. This time for six weeks in the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington New York. Long travel days tend to be exhausting on all levels. Our objective for Arrival Day was very simple: arrive. After settling in and…

It’s time to throw away the old tape.

There is this habit I got into numerous years ago. It goes a little something like this: a tragic event will occur in my life, I internalize the negative emotions and I sear them to my identity. All of the sudden the same old tape is playing. With a bit of static and white noise,…

You Didn’t Deserve to be Abused

When I was a child, my mother always told me “If anybody ever touches you inappropriately, you need to tell me”. From that conversation, I at least understood my body was something I needed to safeguard and that it was possible for someone to cross a boundary. I never thought this someone would actually be…

Healing the Culture

I remember asking patients who would come to the doctor office, “What brings you in today?” To which a string of replies would follow: headache, runny nose, joint pain, abdominal pain, etc.  In order to get to make a proper diagnosis and treatment plan, medical professionals need to know what the problem is, its symptoms,…

Where Are All The Men?

Many of my male friends in high school would approach me crying saying, “I will never know my father because he either left, is in jail, or was killed.” There is a desperate cry in each of our hearts to be seen, known, and loved by a father, and in the absence of fathers, boys…

If The Body is a Gift, I Must Admit, I Didn’t Like Mine

Ever since I could remember I was hyper aware of my body and would study it in front of the mirror. I was a very insecure little girl always listening to my family call me “gorda” which is an endearing term in the Latino culture for “big-boned” . Once in the fifth grade, my teacher…