“The lay life is the life of the Church.”
Rev. Jean Baptiste Muard, founder of the Edmundite Missions,1843
I really like this quote. I BELIEVE in this quote. It expresses the spirit of Vatican II, only 120 years before the Council was convened. The Edmundite Missionaries have been empowering lay people and respecting the life of the laity for 180 years. Muard founded the Edmundites in Pontigny, France in 1843. Then, amidst radical anti-clericalism in France at the time, the Missionaries moved to a French-friendly Montreal, Canada and then to Winooski, Vermont to establish St. Michael’s College which today has an enrollment of 3,000 students.
In 1937 the Edmundites were called by God to serve the poorest of the poor Black Americans in Selma, Alabama. They have served that community ever since with programing and ministry in four main areas:
•Health •Self-Reliance •Nutrition & •Education
This past week, Sue Geegan, our Director of Human Concerns, Eric Kramp, our new Parish Manager and I visited the Mission in Selma. Our partners with Catholic Extension Society sponsored our trip and, as they have for several previous Lenten Social Justice Projects, they once again introduced us to a group of very dedicated, faith-filled people.
The Edmundites who we are assisting are all lay ministers. Their work carries out the spirit of their founder, Rev. Jean Baptiste Muard. They are lay people serving lay people in the name of the Catholic Church. In doing so, they are carrying out every tenet of Catholic Social Teaching:
Respecting Life
Protecting the Rights and Responsibilities of Life
Strengthening the Community, particularly the most fundamental community—the family
Supporting the Dignity of Work
Solidarity
Care for Creation
Exercising a basic and fundamental Outreach to the Poor
Like all good Missionaries, the Edmundites are always looking for new frontiers, new challenges and new ways to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their newest frontier is to engage college students in their ministry and their commitment to the principles cited above.
The Mission has several buildings that house activities and ministries. They recently purchased a building that needs renovation to house these college students. The funds that we generate will go directly to the renovation of that building.
“If you build it, they will come.” (A voice from the movie Field of Dreams)
The building will be called the Casey Center after Fr.Casey who played a critical role in the movement of the Order to Selma. Renovating the building will cost $1 million. They have already raised $750,000 and we are hoping to raise at least $50,000 to assist them and move closer to empowering college students and advancing their mission.
In addition to the many challenges of the Edmundites in Selma, on January 12 of this year a tornado ripped through the town. The facilities that the Edmundites own and operate had very minimal damage, thank God. However, that tragedy displaced many residents and increased the number of people needing their services.
Please help to house college students from across the country learning about the importance of service and Social Justice. As we help to house them they will learn about basic health needs met by the Mission’s clinic, about nutrition, and to see that many of the former clients of their soup kitchen now work there and teach others about good nutrition. They will learn the dignity of work as they empower residents to gain employment and they will learn the significant role that education plays in moving from poverty to productivity.
Familiarize yourself with more details of how the Edmundites, with our help, will form a new generation of Catholic leaders.