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Supporting the U.S. Catholic Mission Association Supporting the work of the U.S. Catholic Mission Association is one of hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. Sister Anne Louise von Hoene spent 20 years in Africa, working as a pharmacist and a hospital administrator, and nearly 11 years in London as our General Treasurer, before moving back to the U.S. She recalls, “When I returned, I was uncertain what it would be like to work in my own culture. In discerning my next involvement, I was drawn to our nation’s capital by the possibility of working for social justice. My previous experiences led me to become involved in the Jubilee Movement to cancel the debts of the world’s poorest nations, and in the Africa Faith and Justice Network. Then, while continuing some involvement with the social justice movements, I had the opportunity to begin working with the U.S. Catholic Mission Association (USCMA). USCMA is an organization that brings together mission sending groups (both religious and lay), Diocesan Mission offices, and individuals interested in the cross cultural ministry of the Church. Through its web site www.uscatholicmission.org, quarterly newsletter and annual conference, USCMA strives to stimulate and further an understanding of and involvement in mission. Each year’s conference explores one of the key elements of mission. The Mission Congress in 2005 in Tucson, Arizona, for instance, focused on “The US Church in Mission with the Global Community” and included immersion trips to the US/Mexican border and to area Native American communities. The 2006 Annual Conference at Notre Dame focused on short-term mission experiences and parish twinning, which have become some of the newest expressions of mission. In 2007 the Conference in Austin, Texas, studied the Spirituality of Mission in the 21st Century. Recent articles in USCMA’s newsletter have included a study of Reconciliation as a New Paradigm of Mission.
Sister Anne Louise explains, “My work at USCMA includes accounting, payroll, purchasing, checking on our insurance -- activities that may seem far removed from mission. Yet these activities are essential to keeping the organization functioning.”
She adds, “Participation in the annual conferences, interaction with the other staff members and with the members of the Board of Directors keep me in touch with other missionaries and with the evolution of the theology and practice of mission. I find these interactions stimulating and challenging. I have found, after all, that mission involvement true to Medical Mission Sisters’ charism is also possible in my own culture.”
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