By S.L. Hansen
for the Register
97.5 cents of every dollar donated to visiting missionary priests makes its way to the missions, to truly help people.
The rest is portioned for the missionaries while they visit, the Vatican’s Missionary Society and Childhood Association, seminaries that train missionaries, and administrative costs.
Between now and Sept. 15, every parish in the diocese will receive a visit from a missionary associated with one of the organizations supported by contributions from the Diocese of Lincoln. The missionaries are making appeals for the financial support they need to continue to serve those in need.
The tradition of missionaries visiting each parish in the diocese was started by Bishop Glennon P. Flavin (1916-1995).
“Bishop Flavin was mission director in St. Louis before he became our bishop,” said Father William Holoubek, director of the Diocese of Lincoln’s Mission Office. “I think the greatest blessing is that we hear personal accounts of their struggles and their faith.”
The visits from missionaries enable the faithful in southern Nebraska to understand exactly how contributions demonstrate God’s love and mercy to people who struggle to get basic necessities.
“More than one billion people don’t even have access to clean water,” Father Holoubek pointed out.
He recalled one missionary from Africa who said he had priests in areas “so poor, nobody could believe in God.”
The solution was to build wells. Once missionaries gave the community easy access to fresh water, they could begin to understand God’s desire that the people know him as their heavenly Father.
The Diocese of Lincoln supports many different missionary organizations, including the Dominican Fathers and Brothers in the Province of Nigeria, the Missionary Fraternity of Mary serving in Guatemala, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary serving in the Philippines, and several missionary dioceses in India, Kenya and Uganda.
Father Holoubek said supporting the missions is actually a way to answer the call to share the Gospel that Catholics receive at confirmation.
“This is how we proclaim the good news to the poor,” he explained.
His role as director includes being the liaison to the national pontifical mission societies and arranging for various missionaries to visit the diocese. The latter can be quite complicated. Missionaries must pay their own way to Nebraska. Sometimes it’s a challenge to get a visa on time. Some missions simply don’t have enough team members to send one to the U.S. for several weeks.
The 11 missionaries who are visiting southern Nebraska this year are assigned to visit a combination of large and small parishes. This is the best way to help them reach the financial goal of their appeal. If one missionary is given more than he needs and another less, Father Holoubek will even out the funding to ensure everyone receives the financial support they need.
It is a sad fact that support for missions in the diocese has been steadily dropping for the last 10 to 15 years. There are many good causes to support, and it can be hard to choose.
The missionaries who are coming to Nebraska this summer have already been vetted by the Church, which sends independent evaluators to make sure each mission is serving the way it should. Each missionary also signs a contract promising to make appeals only at the Mass to which he is invited to speak, and never to privately solicit additional funds.
Father Holoubek also knows how to make sure the missionaries actually receive the funds raised in the diocese. Sometimes a corrupt government or other nefarious people intercept wire transfers, alter checks, or otherwise abscond with donations.
“United States banks won’t even wire money to Africa because it disappears,” he revealed. “We have to be very careful how we send money.”
He confirmed that 97.5 cents of every dollar donated makes its way to the missions, to truly help people. As for the rest, part of it provides for the missionaries while they are visiting Nebraska, some is sent to the Vatican’s Saints Peter and Paul Missionary Society and Missionary Childhood Association, a fraction goes to general administrative costs, and another portion is sent to seminaries that train missionaries.
“If we can educate priests for the mission field, each one will eventually minister to thousands of people,” Father Holoubek reasoned.
He noted that the requests during these missionary appeals – as well as Mission Sunday in October – are truly the simplest way that Nebraska Catholics can fulfill this call.
“It’s almost too easy,” he mused. “It’s easier to give money than it is to give love.”
Father Holoubek referenced St. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 9: “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In the same way, he hopes that the faithful in southern Nebraska will take some time before a missionary visits their parish to consider how generous they can be. Despite the pinch of rising costs, job scarcity, and other financial pressures, Nebraskans are still far better off than the people served by these missionaries.
“I love that quote from Pope Saint John Paul II,” Father Holoubek said. “‘You are never too poor to give nor too rich to receive.’ We’re not so poor that we cannot give.”
Father Holoubek welcomes people in the diocese to share what they learn from the visiting missionaries this year. Send your story in care of the Diocesan Mission Office, John XXIII Diocesan Center, 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 6, Lincoln, NE 68506-6100.
