Bishop John McCarthy Applauds Maryknoll Lay Missioners
Contributed by Sam Stanton
Retired Bishop John McCarthy, former ordinary of the Diocese of Austin, applauded the role of Maryknoll Lay Missioners in training, sending and promoting the role of laity in mission in his November 30 blog. You can read the blog by going to www.bishopjohnmccarthy.com/tag/maryknoll.
Bishop McCarthy is considered one of the most mission minded bishop to serve in recent decades. I first met the bishop while attending the US Catholic Mission Association meeting in Austin in 2008. In February of 2010 he hosted a funding raising and mission promotions event for MKLM in his home with 50 friends attending. Marj Humphrey, Dick and Nancy Bureson and I were able to attend along with our board member, Rhonda Paver and her husband Bill. The Pavers are very close friends of the bishop. With Bill Vos we are currently discussing the possibility of a small gathering of bishops, both retired and currently serving, coming together through the invitation of the Bishop McCarthy. We are most grateful for the support in various ways that the bishop has and is willing to give Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
Bishop McCarthy was born in Houston, TX. He was a high school classmate of Maryknoll Father Rafael Davilla and martyred Maryknoller, Bill Woods. IN the 1960s he helped reorganize Catholic Charities USA and helped develop the foundation for the Campaign for Human Development, an initiative of the US Catholic Bishops to support community development projects in poor neighborhoods across the country. He was ordained bishop in 1979 and assigned as auxiliary of Houston. In 1986 he was named ordinary of Austin. During his time as bishop in Austin the Catholic population more than doubled. He retired in 2001 and continues to reside in Austin where he continues to serve pastorally through writing, leading retreats and other activities.
His blog will now be linked to to our website and posted on our facebook.
We thank Bishop John McCarthy for his tremendous support. We are excited about his assistance as we all work together to support the role of laity in mission in the coming years.
In the picture our 12 new missioners who participated at the Sending Ceremony, on Dec. 10, at Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Chapel. We are honored that our new missioners have chosen to minister with MKLM and we welcome them to their mission communities: Donna Stiglmeier (Bolivia); Carolyn Trumble and Sirikit Noronha (Brazil); Dee Dungy and Maria Montello (Cambodia);Rick Dixon and Darren Streff (El Salvador); and Mabel Tan, Chris & Katie Reid, and Caitlin & David Rosser (Tanzania).
