On March 7-13, three independent organizations demonstrated a unique and successful model of ecumenical partnership to support and serve the poor and sick. The Order of Malta-Charlotte Region, Wingate University Campus Ministries, and members of Our Lady of Grace Church in Indian Land, S.C., independently support Missionaries of the Poor both in the Monroe monastery and in Kingston, Jamaica.
In North Carolina, the brothers work with the local poor and disadvantaged. They also collect food, clothing, diapers and other necessities that are sent to MOP centers in Jamaica, Haiti, Africa, and Indonesia.
During Wingate University’s spring break the second week of March, members of the Order of Malta and Our Lady of Grace Church traveled to Kingston with 10 students from Wingate University to work with the MOP brothers in their ministry to the poor and sick. The Order of Malta-Charlotte Region sponsored room and board for the students as part of its faith initiatives and service to the sick and the poor.
All three organizations collaborated to collect clothing, vitamins, diapers and other supplies for delivery to the MOP brothers, who operate five centers in the ghetto of Kingston and one just outside of Kingston in the mountains. In these centers, they feed, clothe, shelter and give medical aid to approximately 600 physically and mentally challenged men, women and children. Each center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Cameron and Natalie Jackson, members of the Order of Malta, and Deacon Robert “Doc” Donofrio, M.D., from Our Lady of Grace Parish, served alongside Wingate’s campus minister, Dane Jordan, and 10 university students in each of the five centers, supporting the brothers in a variety of tasks, such as feeding, brushing teeth, cleaning and providing residents of the centers with love and compassion. Students also participated in daily Liturgy of the Hours, rosary, Stations of the Cross, and Mass with members of the Order and MOP brothers.
“Serving with Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica was, overall, truly the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life so far,” student Ariel Ray said. “I had no idea what to expect. Initially, our intentions were to serve the poor and in need, but what I found in Jamaica was something that I myself was in need of: an abundance of joy. For people who have such little to offer, that don’t even own the clothes on their backs, they offered more love, light, and life than any that I have ever known. It is now my personal belief that everyone, from all social classes and backgrounds, should take the opportunity to serve in this way at some point in their lives. There is so much to learn about God and about life from the faces of these precious people. This was an experience I will never forget.”
“Our mission trip to Jamaica for me was like a retreat,” another student, Rosio Carbajal, said. “With our time spent with the brothers and residents, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and grow my relationship with God. I feel like I came back stronger in my faith, and with new lessons learned from all the experiences we lived.”
The Missionaries of the Poor was founded by Father Richard Ho Lung, a Jamaican of Chinese parentage. A convert to Catholicism, Father Ho Lung began his priesthood as a Jesuit in academia. He taught at Boston College and the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. But during these years he could not forget his roots in the ghettos of Jamaica, and he began devoting his life to serving the poorest of the poor in his native country.
— Goodwill Publishers
Learn more
At www.missionariesofthepoor.org: Find out more about the Missionaries of the Poor and their work around the world
