Missionary Cenacle
Background: In 1998 we went on our first volunteer mission, serving through the Missionary Cenacle Volunteers (MCV). The MCV program provides an avenue to serve in various capacities and lengths of service. (See the MCV web site www.tmc3.org) We served for 15 months with an organization called Common Ground in Oberlin, Ohio. That experience and the path that led to it is a separate story, which we will not describe here. However, it is through that experience that we learned of Trinita and its summer volunteer program. We had anticipated the someday we would serve at Trinita and this year turned out to be the year.
Trinita is a retreat Center located in New Hartford, Connecticut that offers a summer camp for “inner city families” The families are generally poor and live in tough inner city neighborhoods. Families pay only a nominal amount to attend. Each family attends for a week. New family groups from another city arrive each Saturday back to back. One group leaves at 9:00am and the next arrives at 4:00pm.
For Sharon and I, the experience at Trinita was profound. We had to adapt to several different populations, that is the religious sisters, other volunteers and of course the diverse family groups. Living in community was new for us and presented many challenges and opportunities for growth. Living in shared community with 20 other volunteers was a significant contrast to having lived as a couple for 37 years in a private home. Another adjustment we had to make was the length of the each day’s activities. We found the schedule to be taxing both physically and emotionally. But, God always gave us the strength we needed to be present to the families we came to serve.
The diversity of the people including the religious, volunteers and the family campers was a highlight of the program. The make up of the people was composed of African American, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and even a Native American and Korean. The diversity added richness to our experience and broadened our acceptance of people of different cultures.
Now that we have been able to reflect back on our seven weeks at Trinita, we’ve come to recognize how blessed we were to serve. Volunteering is a gift and like all gifts must be accepted openly and without expecting something in return. Trusting in the goodness of God to get out of our comfortable boats allows us to experience grace and joy. When we choose to be a servant we give up the right to be in control, it is then that we grow in faith. Looking back at our Trinita experience we now realize that God’s grace was all around us.
Jim and Sharon Branca are the local representatives of this worthy volunteer ministry. Contact them for details of how you can be involved in the fulfilling ministry.
Last Published: December 20, 2006 8:43 PM
