Jesus the Missionary

Jesus was a missionary. As the Word of God, he is the light of all nations. As the Word made flesh, he brought God's own life into our midst. Before returning to the Father, he sent the Church to continue the mission given him by the Father and empowered her with his Spirit: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21).

Except from To the Ends of the Earth: A Pastoral Statement on World Mission.

The entire month of October is World Mission Month!

During this special month dedicated to the missions, we are invited to recommit ourselves to the Church's missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. Together we help to ensure all people receive help and the hope that comes from knowing the love of Jesus Christ.

Mission Doctors exhibit the love of Christ through the witness to their faith; by their compassionate care; by their sacrifice to serve.

I often tell the story of when Tim Cavanagh, MD was in Zimbabwe and a patient was in his consultation room and saw on his desk the photo of the Cavanagh’s four adult daughters.  Tim was asked ‘Are these your children’ and Tim said that like any proud father he sat up and said ‘Yes these are my girls!’  The patient then asked him ‘Then why are you here?’  Tim said he paused for a moment and said ‘Well I am here because there are people in the United States who love you and who have sent me to be here.’

"As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21).

Missionaries do not go – they are sent.  Mission Doctors are sent by you and me to bring hope and health; to serve as living witnesses to the love of God. 

This month we are reminded that we are all called to be connected to the missionary effort of the Church. 

How will you connect?

Jubilee for Workers of Mercy

Mercy does not just mean being a good person… 

It is the measure of our authenticity as disciples of Jesus.   

                                                                        -Pope Francis

For the many times we strive to follow Christ's invitation to live for others and not just ourselves we are "Workers of Mercy"

"Do we visit the prisoner, the sick, help people understand their lives?  We are workers of mercy and Pope Francis invites us to celebrate our Jubilee of Mercy in Rome Sept. 2 - 4th to say thank you!"  
            •    Daughters and Brothers of Charity
            •    Members of the Catholic Workers Movement
            •    Ordained priests, Religious communities of men and women
            •    Lay people bringing Communion to the sick
            •    Teachers in classrooms
            •    Family members caring for elderly parents
            •    Mission Doctors who leave the comforts of home, the security of jobs, family and
                 friends...all are "workers and volunteers of mercy"....

.... and Pope Francis wants to thank you.

The culmination of this celebration will be Mass on Sunday Sept 4th with the Holy Father in St. Peter’s Square - the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa, the epitome of a life lived for others.

Yet it is not only her life of service which stands as a witness but her deep faith when her faith was all she had: Mother Teresa of Calcutta


Be kind and merciful.  
Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.  
Be the living expression of God’s kindness.             
                                                                         -Blessed Mother Teresa


While we can’t all be in Rome, we are invited to be together spiritually during this special jubilee.
A time to remember our call to be authentic disciples of Jesus.

I love my job!

Before breakfast today I was on Facebook messenger with Dr. Martha Coda in Cameroon.

With my coffee I went back and forth on messenger with Molly Druffner, in Tanzania with her husband Dr. Mark Druffner and their family.

Even before I got on the freeway I had emails back and forth from Dr. Marc Tunzi and Dr. Danielle Acton in Ecuador, and Drs. Paul and Terese Bauer who are in Tanzania with their five children. 

The lifesaving work of these doctors and the faith of their families making these long and often difficult journeys continues to inspire me.  Though August marks 35 years of working for Mission Doctors for me, I am always grateful to be witness to their service and provide whatever support I can – even if it is long distance.

I love my job!

Re-entry

Back at the Mission House, where they took part in the four month formation program in 2013, Mission Doctor and Lay Mission-Helper families have come together this week to connect, to share, and to pray.  These returned missionaries have served in Africa and Latin America and this re-entry workshop provides the opportunity to reflect on their time in service in light of returning to the United States, and a space to share the joys and challenges of their time in mission.

 

 

This has been a time of laughter, and shared tears; of story telling, and meeting 4 babies born since 2013!  During the workshop, at Mass, and over meals, we find the commonality and unique aspect of each journey. 

Tom and I returned from Thailand in 1981 with three young children and I see much of our experience in what has been shared. How we are changed by the experience, how we return and live and make an effort to hold on to the best of our time, striving to live each day with deep gratitude.

World Hepatitis Day

There are many medical problems which present dramatically.  Think of broken legs, of the various types of infections, etc.   Often, the tests and x-rays done just confirm what both patient and physician already knew.  Other diseases can affect a person quietly and progressively, such as occurs in certain forms of chronic hepatitis.  This can potentially lead to problems including liver failure and liver cancer.  We are fortunate in our country to have the availability of ways to diagnosis and follow chronic hepatitis.  Many of the tests are part of routine healthcare and help to diagnose hepatitis at an early stage when treatments can be most beneficial.  In resource-limited countries, such diseases can progress insidiously to a serious and advanced stage in the absence of any way to diagnose them. 

Today is World Hepatitis Day.    We are blessed in our country with a long list of ways to keep hepatitis from harming us.  There are vaccines to prevent some types, knowledge of how the various types of hepatitis are spread and how to avoid contracting it, as well as a growing number of medical and surgical treatments for those who develop hepatitis and it's complications.

So what do physicians in mission lands do about hepatitis?  What do you do to deal with a disease you can not diagnose early?  How do you prevent hepatitis when vaccines are not available?   How do you treat people with hepatitis when specific medical treatments and surgery are not available?  You take the time and effort to educate your patients well about how hepatitis is spread and ways to avoid contracting it.  The best, and often the only, way to not be harmed by hepatitis in resource-limited countries is to not contract it.

The World Health Organization has established concrete goals for reduction in the transmission of and death from hepatitis in coming years.  Until hepatitis takes its place in the museum of diseases which once afflicted humanity, prevention remains the best and often the only medicine.

oday's guest blog post is contributed by Dr. Tim Cavanagh. Dr. Cavanagh is a veteran Mission Doctor.  Tim and his wife Sheila served for three years in rural Zimbabwe and continue to serve on short-term missions in Africa and Latin America.  Additionally he serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Mission Doctors Association.

Peace

“Peace firstly means there are no wars … but it also means that there is friendship between all that every day a step ahead is made for justice, so that there are no more children who are hungry, that there are no more sick children who do not have the possibility of receiving healthcare. Doing all of this means making peace. Peace involves work, it is not about staying calm and doing nothing. No! True peace means working so that everyone has a solution to the problems, to the needs, that they have in their land, in their homeland, in their family, in their society.”

Pope Francis

Audience with children of the Peace Factory

May 12, 2015

There are times that the news – both things happening around the world and things closer to home can make me want to pull the covers over my head and hide. 
 
But Pope Francis said this so well --- Peace involves work!  We must all find the work we are called to do to bring peace, hope, and solutions to problems we know need to be addressed.
 
The Mission Doctors caring for the child in rural Cameroon or along the Napo River in the Amazon Region of Peru know this – it is work, hard work.  But for the child and their family receiving healthcare it can be life changing. 

Together we work to bring these solutions to these problems.   

It is a calling

Being a doctor is a calling.  For Catholic Doctors this calling is also a reflection of their faith.

While the challenges of being a doctor are known to many, they include; many years of education; often followed by large debt;  followed by long hours in a residency program; and then seeking a way to utilize their education and gifts.  The greatest challenges usually come when all that they can do is still not enough. 

For some on the outside it may seem like a great way to make a living – but for most doctors it is much more about helping people live, and live their lives to the fullest.

If you have ever listened to a surgeon gleefully recall a challenging case with a good outcome; or an OBGYN whose smiling face says that she has delivered yet another new life into the world; or an Emergency Room doctor at the end of his evening, both exhausted and exhilarated; or seen the pediatrician who seems to glow in the presence of the newborn, and who still wakes in the middle of the night because a parent is meeting her at the hospital, or the dentist who volunteers his time every chance he gets… then you have met a doctor who is called.

Mission Doctors Association believes it is important to recognize a Catholic Doctor whose faith informs their professional life.  For some it has been activities in their own community, for others it has been through their international mission work. 

2015 Catholic Doctors of the Year, Fr. Jack McCarthy, MD and Fr. Maurice Schroeder, MD

We invite everyone across the United States to consider the Catholic Doctor they know and nominate them for the 2016 National Catholic Doctor of the Year.   Help us recognize the unique qualities that are witnessed when a Catholic doctor not only applies their education and gifts, but does so in light of their Catholic faith.

Applications are being accepted now.  You will find the form on our web site.