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A
Vanceburg View
A Monthly Update From the Director
of Glenmary's Volunteer Office
Update
From November 2003
Connecting
the Farm to Glenmary's Mission
How
does the Glenmary Farm reflect the charism of the Glenmary
Home Missioners? That’s a question much on my mind
as I try, as Glenmary’s volunteer director, to make
sure the Farm supports the vision and mission of Glenmary.
I’ve
been participating in Glenmary’s Missionary Formation
Program and, in October, a presenter in that program exposed
me to the idea of SEENC (pronounced C n’ C). This acronym
captures the five facets of Glenmary’s home mission
ministry:.
S
is for Service and Social Justice. This includes reaching
out to meet the immediate needs of the poor and working
for justice.
E
is for Ecumenism. Fostering ecumenical cooperation with
the many Christian denominations in a mission area is
one way Glenmary works to build up the Body of Christ
and promote unity among Christians.
E
also stands for Evangelization. Glenmary missioners proclaim
the Good News to the unchurched and to inactive Catholics
and extend invitations to all to participate in the local
Catholic faith community.
N
is for the Nurture that must be provided for the Catholic
minority in a mission area. They need sacramental ministry,
religious education and spiritual development.
C
stands for the Catholic Church—in its universal form.
Connecting a Catholic mission community to a larger sense
of Church is an important part of building up an effective
Catholic presence in a county. The few Catholics
in a rural county are part of a worldwide Church that
provides a living faith tradition.
So
how does the Glenmary Farm reflect SEENC? Let’s take
a look:
Service
and Social Justice:
The Glenmary Farm provides direct service to the people
of Lewis County. We volunteer at People’s Self Help
Housing, a non-profit construction company that builds housing
for low-income families. We serve at Comprehend, a day program
for people with mental and physical handicaps. We visit
elderly people at a local nursing home. We run a used clothing
store for the Christian Community Center and get involved
with Project Merry Christmas.
By exposing our volunteers (over 500 hundred a year) to
issues that address poverty in Lewis County and Appalachia,
we hope to raise their awareness about justice issues (e.g.,
the right to decent housing) in our wider society and the
need for systemic change to make the “system”
work better for everyone—including the folks in Lewis
County.
Ecumenism:
The Glenmary Farm is always reaching out to various Christian
churches in Lewis County. Each volunteer group visits a
church of another Christian denomination during its time
at the Farm to share worship and our Christian faith. We
also work with the local ministerial society in such activities
as Project Merry Christmas.
Evangelization:
In Vanceburg, as in many Glenmary areas, people call “the
Catholics” when they’re in need of food, clothing,
rent or utility money. And for Lewis County, the Farm is
included in “the Catholics.” What better evidence
that we are witnessing to Good News than the calls we receive
for help and assistance? And the Farm hopes to drive home
to its volunteers the important insight that one of the
best ways to be an evangelizer is to lead a life of Christian
service.
Nurturing:
The Farm actively nurtures the faith of the people who come
to serve. We provide reflections on how service is related
to the meaning of being Catholic. We provide meaningful
prayer and liturgy that grows out of the week’s experiences
and relates these to the Catholic faith tradition.
Catholic
Church Worldwide: We have volunteers coming to
the Farm from Catholic colleges, campus ministries, high
schools and parishes from all over the United States. Presence
at the Farm provides an awareness of this web of “Catholic
connections.” And just as Glenmary missioners try to
connect local folks to the wider world and wider Church,
the Farm is making a needed connection for the wider Church
to the local problems of the poor, rural areas of our country
and our Church. We also serve the greater Church by giving
people from many different places a taste of mission in
action.
People
who come to the Farm have a genuine desire to serve. We
hope to germinate this seed, already sown by God, into a
commitment to make Christian service part of a lifelong
approach to living the Good News of Jesus.
Maybe
you have some thoughts about these five aspects of Glenmary’s
ministry and how you experienced them at the Farm. I’d
like to hear them!
Peace,
Joe Grosek
jgrosek@glenmary.org
And
if you missed previous Vanceburg Views,
check them out.
For
more information about the Glenmary Farm:
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