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Overseas Missions
Missions
Reflection
| The missionary activity of our Province began over fifty years ago on the premise that God will not be outdone in generosity... The Gospel and the world challenge us.... [to] bring Christ's presence to non-Christian lands or rebuild the Church where restoration is needed by being heralds of the Gospel, instruments of peace and witness of [our] "vocation of love toward the poor."
--Rebuild My House Recent popes, councils, synods and chapters have affirmed that the Church is, by its very nature, missionary. There are two occasions in the Gospel when Jesus sent his disciples out on mission. The most memorable is at his Ascension: Go therefore to all nations! The other is when Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him: the gift you have received, give as a gift! These two passages describe the ChurchÍs missionary plan of action: going out and sharing the gift. What is true for the whole Church is can be seen in real and practical ways in the history of the missions of Holy Name Province. Following in the way of St. Francis, for whom the missions were very dear, the friars of the Province have continued to respond to the Lord's commands and shared the gift in many different and creative ways. Holy Name Province was founded by missionaries.. Friars from Germany and Italy responded to the needs of the Church in the New World. They came to serve immigrants and to support the growth of the local Church by starting schools, parishes, missions and other entities that met immediate needs and looked to the future. By 1901 Holy Name Province was formed and established in the Eastern part of the United States. Mission was still an important part of the work: traveling to remote places where people rarely had the sacraments and following in the footsteps of the great preachers who went before them, the friars went out and shared the gift. Friars from the Province have worked in missions in Asia, North and South America, the Caribbean, and Africa. |
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Asia
| Go, therefore, to all nations!
The missionary impetus was so strong that "missioning" in the United States was not enough. Go, therefore, to all nations! inspired the Province to expand its missionary activities and in 1913, the first member of the province [Fr. Patrick Gilgan] went to China. Through the 1920's and 30's the number of missionaries grew. The friars who went were determined to implant the gospel and establish a local Church. There were regular realignments of assignments entrusted to various provinces of the Order. Eventually Holy Name Province was given the area around Shashi, in Hubei Province in 1933. It was an area about the size of Vermont and was along the great Yangtze River (which flooded regularly). The mission grew almost to the size of a diocese. Parishes, schools, infirmaries were established, and from these friars, catechists, and others went out to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. Vocations were fostered, there are still priests and religious alive today who came from that mission, including Fr. Pius Liu, O.F.M. a member of the province. The mission suffered during World War II and the aftermath when the Communists took power in China. The friars were expelled and they had to trust that God would watch over the vineyard which they help to plant. The gift you have received, give as a gift! Even though the mission seemed doomed, many good things came of the Shashi mission. Some of the friars began to serve the Church in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In Hong Kong the spirit of the Chinese Mission was kept alive, and missions all over Asia were given assistance and the friars work for the local Church, included schools, parishes and a place where Chinese translation of the Bible were made.. In Taiwan the friars went about ministering to those who had left mainland China, and they worked also supported the ministry of the local Church. From these two sites a Chinese Mission Province was established which has enabled the work of the original missionaries to continue. Another off-spring of the Chinese mission is the Japanese mission of Holy Name Province. Many of the friars who had to leave China never came back to the U.S. to work, but volunteered to go to Japan and establish a mission there. Go, therefore, to all nations! By 1953, Holy Name Province accepted responsibility for the mission in the Gumma Prefecture in Japan. There they built a central house which served as a renewal house and formation community and now serves as a retreat center. Parishes and schools were built and soon the mission was attracting vocations and growing in size and numbers. New communities were established and the friars got involved in a great variety of ministries. Some served in the seminary as professors, others helped at the language school from there sprang a ministry to the foreign community. A few worked as hospital chaplains, teachers and retreat masters. The gift you have received, give as a gift! The Franciscan Order created a Japanese Province in 1977. The Holy Name Province Mission, its projects and its members became part of the new foundation. This mission also became ïmissionaryÍ when members of the mission joined the African Project and still the province is sending missionaries to other projects of the Order. One of the Friars who served in Japan also served in the Holy Land. Friars from the Province have also worked in other parts of Asia: one friar served for a time in Sri Lanka, another works today with the Vietnamese Province. There have also been friars who have worked for the Custody fo the Holy Land (the mission St. Francis loved particularly) and a few others served the small Roman Catholic Community of Lebanon. |
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