PHILADELPHIA — As part of a collaborative effort to promote post-graduate service, Katie Sullivan, program director of the Franciscan Volunteer Ministry, designed a brief video highlighting the lives of post-graduate volunteers.
The video was the result of an hour-long session with Liz Eager, executive director of Response-Ability, and Gina Scarpello, director of Cabrini Mission Corps. During the session, the three shared information about post-graduate service, specifically the Catholic Volunteer Network.
Collaborative Volunteer Efforts
“It was the first-ever event of its kind,” Sullivan said, adding that the session was hosted by Cabrini College in Radnor, Pa., and attended by students, professors and staff.
Student friar Daniel Horan, OFM, promoted the video in an entry on his blog, “Dating God: Franciscan Spirituality for the 21st Century.”
The network, formerly the Catholic Network of Volunteers, is a member organization that connects people interested in serving with programs. “Member programs offer domestic and international, short- and long-term service opportunities,” Sullivan said.
The Franciscan Volunteer Ministry has been a member program since its founding in 1989.
Sullivan said the three women will be facilitating a discernment day for local college and university students interested in post-graduate service on Nov. 18 at Cabrini.
‘Compassionate and Sweet’ FVM Class
Sullivan said the current Franciscan volunteers are “thriving” in their communities. “They are settling into ministries and making them their own. They are a genuinely sweet, compassionate and fun class of FVMs. All three sites — Camden, N.J., Philadelphia and Wilmington Del. — are singing their praises.”
Information about the backgrounds and attitudes of a few of the FVMss appears in the October 2010 issue of The Pilgrim, produced by St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia.
In early November, the 12 FVMs will travel to Mt. Irenaeus Franciscan Mountain Retreat in Western New York for their fall retreat. Sr. Madonna Hoying, SFP, will join the retreat. “We are looking forward to that time with Madonna and with the community of the mountain,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan and FVM promoter Matthew Johnson are currently in Albuquerque, N.M., participating in Mission Congress,2010. Sullivan said every 10 years, the Catholic Volunteer Network and United States Catholic Mission Association collaborate on a conference. This year’s theme is “God’s Mission, Many Faces: A Portrait of U.S. Catholics in Mission.”
— Rebecca Doel is communications coordinator for Holy Name Province.