Kolbe's Mission Blog, CIC Post #1
Dear Parishioners,
Thank you again for your support: please know that you've provided not only for my attendance costs but enough for another missionary. This was an incredible witness to Christ and I promise you that your generosity is being lived out well in our community and Christ in the City's mission. In this post, I'd like to fill you in on what life in the community looks like.
Dear Parishioners,
Thank you again for your support: please know that you've provided not only for my attendance costs but enough for another missionary. This was an incredible witness to Christ and I promise you that your generosity is being lived out well in our community and Christ in the City's mission. In this post, I'd like to fill you in on what life in the community looks like.
First, some corrections to what I've told you in after-Mass announcements: 1) my $1,700 attendance fee did not actually include food: the food we receive is donated by local community members and businesses (which is amazing; currently, their donations are feeding 50+ missionaries and visitors three meals a day and seven days a week for the most part). 2) Our Lunch in the Park is weekly on Wednesdays and on the second Saturday of each month (second Saturdays are larger). Lunch in the Park is a food line but more than that too: the presence of our missionaries makes this event a welcoming environment for our friends on the streets and a place for them to feel not only fed, but also loved. 3) While every weekday is packed with outreach, training/debriefing, chores, and community bonding, weekends are free; this is why we tend to contact our family, friends, supporters, and community back home primarily on weekends (that is, when not exploring the city/outdoors, coffee shops, local events, and playing games). This isn't much of an exception to what you may have heard from me or others about this ministry, but explains why I'll be communicating in as far-reaching of a manner as possible and mostly on weekends. 4) I haven't run into any construction work yet, but our missionaries' "odd jobs" have included in-house cleaning, organizing, planning/undertaking house renovations (which could count for construction), and event planning/participation (donor appreciation, Lunch in the Park, training volunteers, etc.), to name a few.
Our day-to-day life looks something like this--
6:00 AM: Roll out of bed and prepare for a new day!
6:30 AM: Pray morning prayer (Liturgy of the Hours) with the community. Pray or finish morning duties until . . .
8:00 AM: Eat breakfast with all 50-some members of the community (whether you get your energy from caffeinated/sugary drinks or the amount of ruckus that amount of people in one room can make, you'll wake up here).
8:30 AM: Chores. This allows time to clean up from breakfast and prepare for . . .
9:00 AM: Ministry begins. We either start with a 30-min. "touchbase" (notices for that week) or leave for ministry at this time. There are about 50 of us in the house right now (Year of Service, aka YOS; Summer of Service, SOS; mission staff; and a steady in-and-out of visitors and volunteers) so we split into 4-5 different routes to encounter our friends on the street.
12:00 PM, noon: We try to find a Mass around this time. Exact Mass times vary however, as we sometimes have priests at our house as locals or through visiting volunteer groups. Following Mass is lunch!
2-5 PM, remainder of afternoon: This varies much more. Depending on the weekday we have house organization/chores, team meetings (where our own street route team gets together and debriefs on what happened/skills to have in street ministry), training, Marian groups (male or female-specific meetings for relationship building), SOS debriefs, or late afternoon Adoration and Mass (which are on Fridays).
5:15 PM: We pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet as a community.
5:30 PM: Dinner!
6:30-9:00 PM: This also varies. Monday "deep cleaning" puts us to work doing some serious "wax-on, wax-off" work around the house and leaves it looking pretty spotless (I'm proud of the cleaning that we get done then)! The rest of the week is free for the guys (one evening contains Marian group for the women) until Friday, where we do nighttime ministry (much alike to what we'd do during the day but in the evening instead of midday).
Special schedule exceptions: Weekly Wednesdays and every second Saturday of the month make for a busy morning and afternoon due to Lunch in the Park, and weekends are free (see #3 of my exceptions above).
With these corrections and blurbs aside, I'd like to tell you what my experience at CIC has been like these past couple weeks. See my next post ("My Debrief to You") to find out more!
Our day-to-day life looks something like this--
6:00 AM: Roll out of bed and prepare for a new day!
6:30 AM: Pray morning prayer (Liturgy of the Hours) with the community. Pray or finish morning duties until . . .
8:00 AM: Eat breakfast with all 50-some members of the community (whether you get your energy from caffeinated/sugary drinks or the amount of ruckus that amount of people in one room can make, you'll wake up here).
8:30 AM: Chores. This allows time to clean up from breakfast and prepare for . . .
9:00 AM: Ministry begins. We either start with a 30-min. "touchbase" (notices for that week) or leave for ministry at this time. There are about 50 of us in the house right now (Year of Service, aka YOS; Summer of Service, SOS; mission staff; and a steady in-and-out of visitors and volunteers) so we split into 4-5 different routes to encounter our friends on the street.
12:00 PM, noon: We try to find a Mass around this time. Exact Mass times vary however, as we sometimes have priests at our house as locals or through visiting volunteer groups. Following Mass is lunch!
2-5 PM, remainder of afternoon: This varies much more. Depending on the weekday we have house organization/chores, team meetings (where our own street route team gets together and debriefs on what happened/skills to have in street ministry), training, Marian groups (male or female-specific meetings for relationship building), SOS debriefs, or late afternoon Adoration and Mass (which are on Fridays).
5:15 PM: We pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet as a community.
5:30 PM: Dinner!
6:30-9:00 PM: This also varies. Monday "deep cleaning" puts us to work doing some serious "wax-on, wax-off" work around the house and leaves it looking pretty spotless (I'm proud of the cleaning that we get done then)! The rest of the week is free for the guys (one evening contains Marian group for the women) until Friday, where we do nighttime ministry (much alike to what we'd do during the day but in the evening instead of midday).
Special schedule exceptions: Weekly Wednesdays and every second Saturday of the month make for a busy morning and afternoon due to Lunch in the Park, and weekends are free (see #3 of my exceptions above).
With these corrections and blurbs aside, I'd like to tell you what my experience at CIC has been like these past couple weeks. See my next post ("My Debrief to You") to find out more!