“We thought it was more practical to have one program rather than trying to run a one-year program and a three- year program concurrently,” said Fr. Ron MacDonell, formation-education department co-ordinator at Scarboro Missions. “There has really been very little interest in the three-year program even from retirees.”
Founded in 1918, Scarboro Missions began its overseas work in China before expanding across Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America as well as Africa. Since Scarboro’s heyday in the 1960s when it had 150 priests working abroad, the numbers have dwindled to only 11 priests and lay missioners last year working primarily in Guyana and China with MacDonell still visiting Brazil annually to work with the Makushi people.
By going to a one-year program, Scarboro Mission is hoping it will be able to attract more missioners, specifically younger ones.
“We shortened it from a three year to a one year to make it more accessible for young people,” said Carolyn Doyle, Scarboro Mission’s short-term mission co-ordinator. “We are really hopeful that it will influence young people in terms of becoming more compassionate, maybe engaging more in social justice issues, and will think of Scarboro Missions throughout their whole life.”
To spread the word Doyle, MacDonell and other members of Scarboro Missions have been canvassing university campuses and student conferences from coast to coast since September seeking young Catholic missioners.
They also partnered with student groups such as the Canadian Catholic Student Association and Catholic Christian Outreach, along with various campus ministers, in their recruiting drive.
As of Jan. 8 only one potential missioner had applied but Doyle said there have been about 20 enquiries. And while the numbers may seem low, Doyle, who along with other members of Scarboro Missions will continue to visit individual universities until the Feb. 14 registration deadline, said things look positive this year.
“I am very positive about the relationship that we have made throughout the course of the program,” she said.
Doyle said the focus on younger missioners comes as a response to a need expressed by a diocese in Guyana where Scarboro Missions already has two priests and two laywoman missioners.
The Archdiocese of Port of Spain, a metropolitan diocese which encompasses much of the Caribbean including Guyana, is seeking to establish youth programming with the assistance of foreign missioners. The missioners will have the opportunity to work in schools, hospitals and orphanages.
“They found that up until the age of 18 young people are really involved in the Church and there are youth groups and stuff,” she said. “Then after people settle down in their mid-30s and start having children they also are very involved. But there is this critical age gap between 18 and 30 where young people aren’t engaged in the Church.”
Last year Scarboro Missions offered a one-year program as a pilot project. Two candidates went through the two-month formation training, which is to take place again in June and July, but due to unforeseen health issues neither was able to fulfil their commitment.
Since then some adjustments have been made to the program, primarily the widening of the age group — 21 to 35 was used for the pilot year — to 21 to 65 being used now that the three-year missioner program has been eliminated.
“We found that there is a lot of retirees that would like to spend time in mission and some people in their 50s and 60s have asked as well is there anything like a one-year program instead of the three-year program,” said MacDonell.
But just because the three- year program no longer exists on paper doesn’t mean a missioner cannot stay for that long, said MacDonell. Although missioners would be required to return to Canada for a one-month debriefing period where they could catch up with friends and family, they are welcomed to return to Guyana without any additional training or cost.
Regardless of one’s age or the number of years they decide to remain in mission, Doyle and MacDonell said there is great value to be garnered by both the missioners and the Guyanese people.
“It is to promote empathy and compassion in short-term missioners through living simply and in solidarity with the poor and marginalized peoples of the world,” said Doyle.
“By going to Guyana as missioners we are saying to the Guyanese people that we believe in living here,” added MacDonell.
For those interested in becoming a missioner, which costs nothing as airfare, accommodations and even a small living allowance are provided, contact Scarboro Missions at (416) 261- 7135.