Easter

In your resurrection, O Christ, let heaven and earth rejoice!

My husband and I attended sunrise Easter Mass at San Gabriel Mission – a parish that was established as part of the California Missions in 1771. 

As I reflect on the meaning of Easter I am reminded that Christ came and is risen, not only for the peoples who have celebrated here for more than 200 years – but for all people in all time; those who came before and those yet to be born;  for all people in all places; those in Africa, Asia and Latin America.   In your resurrection, O Christ, let heaven and all the earth rejoice!

A Holy Week for the Whole World

One of the great joys of being in the missions is the opportunity to celebrate our Catholic celebrations with both the familiar and the new. Everything from a 5 hour Chrism Mass with offertory gifts that include chickens and goats in Cameroon to the elaborate, beautiful and temporary decorations on the plaza in front of the Church in Guatemala.

Offertory Procession at Chrism Mass in Cameroon

“alfombras” or carpets made of 

colored saw dust in Guatemal

In parishes around the world our Holy Week celebrates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus whose suffering and death was indeed for the whole world.

Every Eucharist is the opportunity to re-live the last supper. Holy Thursday also reminds, with the washing of the feet, that we are all called to be servants; called to share our very lives with each other.

On the Friday we call good we find ourselves again on the path and at the foot of the cross. How is it that the creator of universes embraces our humanity even to suffering this seemingly ignoble death?

The answer is always that we may be redeemed, that we may live, that we may serve, that we will love as Christ has shown us. We too are called to give our lives to others.

Today, Mission Doctors and their families are doing just that. They serve that others may live.

Please keep them and their families in your prayers this Holy Week.

Joy, Connections, Excitement, and Anticipation

The 2011 Retreat / Seminar at Loyola Marymount has come and gone… but the feelings of joy, connections, excitement, and anticipation lingers!

This was the 14th year we have hosted this event for doctors and their spouses considering short-term service and we brought together surgeons from Pennsylvania and Alaska; a Cardiologist from Michigan; Family Practice from Arizona; and our California representation included dentists, family practice docs, an ophthalmologist, physical therapist, psychiatrist, physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, pediatricians, as well as spouses with as varied background as attorney, potter, pilot and writer.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the presentation of Dr. Joseph Llewellyn of Palmer, AK, who had attended the retreat for the first in 2010, and who served at Njinikom, Cameroon at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in the fall. He made a presentation this year on “Thoughts From a First‐Timer”. Dr. Ed Malphus who will be leaving to serve in Cameroon for a month in May told me that Dr. Llewellyn’s presentation had been exactly what he needed for his upcoming one month mission to the same hospital.

So – now the planning begins, those attending are already making their plans to serve, interest in sites from Guatemala to Cameroon over the next year.

Next year will be our 15th Annual Retreat / Seminar – and we are already making plans and taking reservations for 2012! If you are, or know, a Catholic Doctor interested in learning about the possibilities, we would love to hear from you.

Bambelela / Never Give Up

A weekend spent at the Religious Ed Congress in Anaheim with 40,000 Catholics is something that I have head referred to as the ‘Catholic County Fair’!

The spirit of the event is busy, beautiful, tiring, and blessed!

My role for the weekend was once again to represent Mission Doctors Association at a booth, and specifically the One Million Patient Project. We gave out hundreds of fliers describing the T-Shirt design contest that ends April 30 – and invited people to sign up to receive the packet for High Schools, Youth Ministries, Confirmation, etc. We had many sign up and Jessica is working on getting these out today!

As we were packing up in the rain on Sunday I still found myself singing Bambelela from the Mass on Friday with Fr. Martin and Marty Haugen leading the music. Never Give Up is a strong message as it related to the people of South Africa and their struggles toward independence, but it is a message that resounds for all people all the time.

The middle of Lent can be a time when we can feel like throwing in the towel on our sacrificing, we can become weary with the season – so this may be why even now on Tuesday a.m. I am singing ‘Never Give Up’ as I face a desk covered with more projects than I have hours!

So… Bambelela – Never Give Up! Take heart – we are on the journey together!

(Bambelela by Marty Haugen is available on ITunes)

Prayer, Fasting and Good Works

Perhaps it is being on the other side of 55 - or the result of a busy job and family life, but Ash Wednesday - even though 'late' in the year really feels like it suddenly appeared on the calendar. The wisdom of celebrating seasons in the Church!

Years ago I taught a 3rd grade RE class and we made Lent books for all the students. For each day there were three lines - Prayer, Fasting and Good Works. I think I need to be a third grader again so I can make myself really focus on the daily consideration of Prayer, Fasting and Good Works this Lent again ..... Maybe I will try to use the blog this way?

Today, Ash Wednesday Prayer - 6:30 a.m. Mass on the way to work. Fasting and Good Works - (accomplish two with the effort of one) No yummy soy latte from the shop downstairs, that I confess I indulge in from time to time - and take that $5 and make an on line donation to the One Million Patients Project. Done.

OK, one day down...the rest of Lent to go...

Take a moment and share what you are planning on doing for Lent.

Celebrations, Dancing, Working Together for the Mission…

One of the great highlights of visiting the missions is the celebrations. The community often comes together to greet us as we arrive and say good bye when we are preparing to leave, even for a brief visit.

This week in the North East of Cameroon they celebrate National Youth Day. Terry Hake’s class, the entire school, and all young people across the country take time away from class (although I know one math teacher who may think more time in class is called for) and celebrate this national holiday together!

We are getting ready for our annual celebration and while not a national holiday, the Mission Doctors Auxiliary is once again hosting the Gala Benefit. This year on February 19, we will be ‘Celebrating the Mission, Creating the Possible’ at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles.

It is important to celebrate and this year we will honor a couple who have done so much for the work of MDA. Dr. Ed and Mrs. Mary Lou Malphus have been involved for many years in this work and we will thank them for their commitment and service. Dr. Malphus, outgoing president of the board of MDA will also be the recipient of the Msgr. Anthony Brouwers Award.

So we celebrate! There will be dinner and dancing, working together for the mission. We are gathering to ensure that we will be able to continue to make it possible for doctors like Jim Hake to serve and dance in the missions. Visit this YouTube video that I took while visiting the Hakes in Cameroon he is just back from an emergency at the hospital and joins in the dance!

If you can join us, please contact our office, tickets are still available!

Mission Continues...

January 14, 1964, Msgr. Anthony Brouwers, founder of Mission Doctors Association lost his battle with cancer at 51 years old.

Today, we strive to continue his legacy by making it possible for Catholic doctors and their families to serve at mission hospitals and clinics.

"As never before, the sufferings of mankind easily transverse oceans and become part of the consciousness and the conscience of the American Catholic medical expert. Their plight is our problem. Their cries of pain and misery are necessarily as personal and impelling as those of our loved ones at our own hearths." Msgr. Anthony Brouwers, 1963

How much more in 2011 are we exposed to the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world - perhaps to the point of a sense of saturation and increasing sense of impotence. Yet today, when it is easier to stay put and chose comfort over sacrifice, Mission Doctors Association has seen an increase in the number of doctors willing to share their skills.

We pray that more will continue to answer the call to serve and that those who can not themselves deliver a baby in Guatemala, or provide care for emergency patients in Uganda or treat HIV patients in Cameroon will make their service possible.

"Am I my brother’s keeper?...This is no rhetorical question. To be Christ-like each of us has be one declarative statement: ‘I, we and all of us everywhere are our brother’s keepers’." Msgr. Anthony Brouwers, 1959

Mother Antonia (The Prison Angel and Foundress of The Sisters of the Eleventh Hour) reminds us to ask Msgr. Brouwers to intercede on our behalf, and to note when these prayers are answered.

A book on the life and legacy of Msgr. Brouwers is available - contact our office to learn more.