The missionary activity of our Province began over fifty years ago on the premise that God will not be outdone in generosity... The Gospel and the world challenge us.... [to] bring Christ’s presence to non-Christian lands or rebuild the Church where restoration is needed by being heralds of the Gospel, instruments of peace and witness of [our] ‘vocation of love toward the poor.’
--Rebuild My House

Recent popes, councils, synods and chapters have affirmed that the Church is, by its very nature, missionary.   There are two occasions in the Gospel when Jesus sent his disciples out on mission.  The most memorable is at his Ascension:  Go therefore to all nations!  The other is when Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him: the gift you have received, give as a gift!  These two passages describe the Church’s missionary plan of action: going out and sharing the gift.   What is true for the whole Church is can be seen in real and practical ways in the history of the missions of Holy Name Province.    Following in the way of St. Francis, for whom the missions were very dear, the friars of the Province have continued to respond to the Lord’s commands and shared the gift in many different and creative ways.

Holy Name Province was founded by missionaries..  Friars from Germany and Italy responded to the needs of the Church in the New World.   They came to serve immigrants and to support the growth of the local Church by starting schools, parishes, missions and other entities that met immediate needs and looked to the future.  By 1901 Holy Name Province was formed and established in the Eastern part of the United States.  Mission was still an important part of the work: traveling to remote places where people rarely had the sacraments and following in the footsteps of the great preachers who went before them, the friars went out and shared the gift.  Friars from the Province have worked in missions in Asia, North and South America, the Caribbean, and Africa

ASIA

Go, therefore, to all nations!

The missionary impetus was so strong that ‘missioning’ in the United States was not enough.  Go, therefore, to all nations!  inspired the Province to expand its missionary activities and in 1913, the first member of the province [Fr. Patrick Gilgan] went to China.   Through the 1920's and 30's the number of missionaries grew.  The friars who went were determined to implant the gospel and establish a local Church.   There were regular realignments of assignments entrusted to various provinces of the Order.  Eventually Holy Name Province was given the area around Shashi, in Hubei Province in 1933.  It was an area about the size of Vermont and was along the great Yangtze River (which flooded regularly). The mission grew almost to the size of a diocese.   Parishes, schools, infirmaries were established, and from these friars, catechists, and others went out to proclaim the gospel in word and deed.   Vocations were fostered, there are still priests and religious alive today who came from that mission, including Fr. Pius Liu, O.F.M. a member of the province.   The mission suffered during World War II some friars were imprisoned or interned and in the aftermath when the Communists took power in China.   The friars were expelled and they had to trust that God would watch over the vineyard which they help to plant.

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

Even though the mission seemed doomed, many good things came of the Shashi mission.  Some of the friars began to serve the Church in Hong Kong and Taiwan.   In Hong Kong, the spirit of the Chinese Mission was kept alive, and missions all over Asia were given assistance. The friars’ work for the local Church, included schools, parishes and Studium Biblicum, a place where Chinese translations of the Bible were made.  In Taiwan the friars went about ministering to those who had left mainland China, and they also supported the ministry of the local Church.  From these two sites, a Chinese Mission Province was established  which has enabled the work of the original missionaries to continue.   Another offspring of the Chinese mission is the Japanese mission of  Holy Name Province.   Many of the friars who had to leave China never came back to the U.S. to work, but volunteered to go to Japan and establish a mission there.    

Go, therefore, to all nations!

By 1953, Holy Name Province accepted responsibility for the mission in the Gumma Prefecture in Japan.   There they built a central house which served as a renewal house and formation community. Today, it serves as a retreat center.  Parishes and schools were built and soon the mission was attracting vocations and growing in size and number.  New communities were established and the friars got involved in a great variety of ministries.  Some served in the seminary as professors, others helped at the language school and from there, sprang a ministry to the foreign community.   A few worked as hospital chaplains, teachers and retreat masters.

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The Franciscan Order created a Japanese Province in 1977.  The Holy Name Province Mission, its projects and its members became part of the new foundation.  This mission also became ‘missionary’ when members of the mission joined the African Project and still the province is sending missionaries to other projects of the Order. One of the Friars who served in Japan also served in the Holy Land.

Friars from the Province have also worked in other parts of Asia: one friar served for a time in Sri Lanka, another works today with the Vietnamese Province.  One friar has a project that is based in China to help the poor and hungry of North Korea. There have also been friars who have worked for the Custody fo the Holy Land (the mission St. Francis loved particularly) and a few others served the small Roman Catholic Community of Lebanon.


NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

In 1943 there was a great departure ceremony.  34 friars were sent forth to the two newest missions of Holy Name Province: Mexico and Brazil.    This begins another era in the mission history of the Province, the “south of the Border” era, an era which still provides many challenges to the missionary activity of the Province.

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In Mexico, the Church was in very difficult times.   After having suffered a severe persecution, the Mexican Church needed help to survive.   Friars from Holy Name Province answered the call readily.  Working under very difficult conditions they were able to help the local Church and the Franciscans begin the long process of recovery.   So many people were without any access to the Church or its sacraments and the friars did a remarkable job of seeing people through these times and bearing hope to people who were close hopeless.  

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

Our friars left Mexico in 1954.   But their work did not end.  Today, there are new provinces of Franciscans in the areas where the friars worked who benefitted from the gifts the friars shared.
Many of the friars who had been in Mexico still were hearing the call of the Lord to Mission.   Missionaries who had been in Mexico became some of the first friars from the Province to go to Bolivia and to Puerto Rico.

Go, therefore, to all nations!

Brazil’s history as a mission is truly as sign of the success of the mission work.   The State of Goias was assigned to Holy Name Province.   The friars arrived and immediately went about setting up apostolates that would serve the proclamation of the gospel.   Looking at the work of the mission, one finds schools, a seminary, parishes, renewal and retreat centers, infirmaries and even  radio stations.   The mission settled into the life of Brazil, and became even more a part of Brazil’s progress  when it participated in the founding of the new capital, Brasilia.  The friars’ church served as the pro-cathedral while the city was being built and the cathedral being prepared.  The mission kept growing and the dream of the first friars that they would be able to establish a new entity for the Order in Brazil began to be seen as truly possible.

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The mission grew so quickly and became so much a part of the life of Brazil that the mission eventually became a vice-province in 1989.  Today with many Brazilian vocations, it has proven its ability to survive and thrive on its own.   Five of the friars of the Province have become bishops in Brazil and instrumental in the establishment and growth of dioceses and prelacies.  Brazil also heard the Lord’s call to go to the ends of the earth.   One of the Friars who was a missionary also served in the Holy Land.  Friars from this mission joined the African project in 1982.   Friars from the Vice-Province have also participated in other missionary projects of the Order. One of the friars helped to staff the Franciscan Mission Service in its early stages.

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In 1946 volunteers were requested to help the Austrians in their mission in Bolivia.  One friar responded  he was alone until 1955.  It was around then that the Province formally accepted responsibility for parishes in Bolivia.   A formal mission was established with a central house in La Paz and outlying mission parishes.  In places so high up you looked down at the clouds passing by, the friars went about establishing the mission.  
The most unique part of the Bolivian mission was the Oscar Project.   Education, work and prayer formed young vocations as they studied for the Order.  They served the people by road building so that people could bring their produce and crafts to market and help support themselves.  The friars found many creative ways to proclaim the good news and bring people the gift of faith.  
At one point, the Bolivian Province, established long ago by missionaries from Spain, began to experience a severe fall in numbers and was unable to sustain itself.  It was welcomed into Holy Name Province as a custody.   This enabled it to recoup and redevelop.   

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The Custody was reformed as a missionary Vicariate  in 1984, later, it grew to a Missionary Province.  The staff and sites of the Holy Name mission were incorporated into the new Province, and now it continues to support and sustain the local Church.   The mission also helped to establish the Diocese of Coroico and one of our friars served as the first bishop.  Our mission in Peru began as a place to offer the Bolivian Missionaries an opportunity for rest and recuperation from the challenges of the altitudes of Bolivia. Friars from the Bolivian Province are serving in Thailand, Morocco and other entities of the Order.   

Go, therefore, to all nations!

The friar who was the Archbishop of Lima invited us to help establish a parish there in 1963.     There the friars from Bolivia could come to rest and there, too, the friars encouraged the members of the parish to take an active part in caring for the less fortunate of the many barrios. The parish and school of the Most Holy Name of Jesus have grown to be a very busy place.  The school which is quite the educational enterprise includes afternoon and evening classes for the poor of the barrios, helping them to learn vocational skills along with basic education to offer a brighter future.    

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

Today, there have been vocations who have come to the friars and remarkable projects which feed, shelter, heal and educate people who have been forgotten and abandoned.  There are two new parishes in barrios that keep growing, along with three centers for health, education and social projects.  One friar has a special apostolate with tribes in the jungle region of Peru. This mission continues to grow as it confronts the needs of more people because of poverty and civil unrest. The original parish was returned to the Archdiocese in 2005, but the other places continue to grow and serve the poor.  The friars are also collaborating with the missionaries who originally came from Canada.  One friar who served in Peru was also a volunteer for the Africa Project, and another has served as co-director of the Franciscan Mission Service.
One other place, really in the middle of nowhere, has been a mission of the Province.  Easter Island is under the protection of Chile.  One of our friars served there and is buried there, so it will always be close to us.  

Go, therefore, to all nations!

The mission experience was not just one that called people to foreign lands, but also to parts of our own country that did not have many Catholics or resources.   For our Province this was the South.
In 1932 the first friars went to North Carolina and began with a small place in Lenoir and expanded to other areas of North Carolina.  The South was still segregated and these first places were to minister to white Catholics.  From this area, another mission to white Catholics in Southern Virginia rural areas was founded in 1939.
The friars soon (1935) committed themselves to evangelization work among the african-American community first in Asheville and then in Greenville, South Carolina (1939) and Winston-Salem in 1940.
In 1941 the friars began to look at Georgia as another place.  There were small pockets of rural Catholics that could not support a priest, and the need for evangelization among the African Americans.  The friars began in Americus and expanded from there.   
In 1944 the province accepted a parish in Pensacola.    The road to the South had expanded and stretched all the way from just outside Washington, D.C. to Pensacola, Florida.  It was a sort of East Coast imitation of El Camino Real in California as Bl. Junipero Serra established missions all along that way.

The friars, often with the help of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, built parishes and schools which, along with the usual outreach programs, solidified the Catholic presence in a very alien environment.   They endure a lot of prejudice and misunderstanding, but in myriads of ways were able to be part of the solution to the ignorance and prejudice that created such terrible racism.

Others apostolates began to be accepted.  The friars were also Campus Ministers at some large Southern campuses and hospital chaplains in the Catholic hospitals often established by the Allegany Franciscan Sisters.  The friars also in looking after the poor began to be involved with the large amount of migrant workers who moved through the South especially in the agricultural areas.

The gift  you have received, give as a gift!

Many of these places are now large and established and the friars have moved on.  It is remarkable to return to places like Lenoir. Statesville and Thomasville which had hardly any Catholics, and see the large communities that gather in beautiful churches every Sunday.   Friars still minister at the University of Georgia.  This ministry to the college campus is another way to have a positive affect on the future. The friars still staff several parishes in the area.  All of which are now integrated.  One of the Friars who served in the South volunteered for the Africa Project, another served in the Holy Land.
We have renamed our Southern Missions our Home Missions and we have begun to include parishes and projects in the poor areas of cities along the East Coast of the United States, most recently in Camden, New Jersey.

THE CARIBBEAN

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In 1954, the Province decided to accept a mission in Puerto Rico.  The first friars who went were veterans of the missions in Mexico which had just closed.  Parishes and schools were established and the friars’ ministry helped to establish three strong communities in the Archdiocese of San Juan.  The friars also attracted vocations.   As staffing became more difficult, the province decided to relinquish all of the parishes in Puerto Rico.

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The parishes in Puerto Rico continue to grow and two friars still work there, one is the Archbishop of San Juan and the other is the vocation director for the Carribean Foundation.  Several of the friars who ministered in Puerto Rico have volunteered for other missionary projects of the Province (Bolivia and the Home missions) and the Order (Africa and a cooperative program in Sweden with the Dutch)and some have also worked with the Hispanic and Haitian migrant communities.

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In 1958 the friars began to serve in Jamaica, originally as assistants to the Secular Franciscans and helping the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany who had extensive missions in Jamaica.   Once the friars were established, they worked very hard in the parishes and also on social projects that were a great help to the poor.  Over time it became harder and harder to staff this mission and the friars decided to return to the United States.  

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The parishes and other programs are still going on in Jamaica and the Province was fortunate to have a vocation from there, who presently serves in the mission in Brazil. One of the friars who served in Jamaica now serves in the mission in Peru, another in the Home Missions.


AFRICA

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In 1982 the General Minister of the Franciscans called for a new thrust in evangelization.  Trusting that the friars’ presence living and working among the poor would be an effective proclamation of the Gospel, he invited friars to volunteer for the Africa Project. The idea was to create small, international communities which would live closely with the people of various countries throughout Africa, especially in East and South Africa.   There these communities living as brothers according to the gospel witnessed to the possibility of diverse people living in harmony and peace.  A lot of friars responded to the invitation and our Province sent a large group of members and alumni. Two friars were former Japanese Missionaries, two were members of the new Japanese Province, one was a former missionary from Puerto Rico and the Southern US, one was a former missionary in Bolivia and Peru, and three were members of the new vice province of Brazil.   

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

One friar still ministers in Africa and two of the friars who originally responded to the call passed away in Africa and their bodies rest with the people they were last called to serve.  The success of the Project is seen in the diversity of ministries that have developed, and especially in the number of young people who have sought to share in the life of the friars. One fo the friars also helped to staff the Franciscan Mission Service.

Go, therefore, to all nations!

In 1986, the Franciscan Missionary Union helped to support the beginnings of the Franciscan Mission Service, a program to train lay volunteers for mission.  This project is a cooperative program of the English-speaking Franciscan men and women’s communities.   Three friars from the province who had served in our missions have been with the Service, one from Brazil, one from Africa and one who had served in Bolivia and Peru.

The gift you have received, give as a gift!

The Franciscan Mission service has been successful in posting people in Africa, Central and South America, and in Asia.   From some of those volunteers have come vocations to our Province and other Franciscan Communities.

Mission is so much a part of our history.  Go, therefore into all nations! and the gift you have received give as a gift! are the words of the Lord that run through this history and which have inspired friars over the last 100 years to accomplish remarkable deeds.  Perhaps the most telling of all the things is how each mission somehow started or assisted a new mission. Such a blessing!  Such a sign of God’s leading hand!

In Holy Name Province’s second century, there are signs of growth and new life.  There are always possibilities on the horizon.  The Province could be called back to China or another place where the gift can still be given.   No matter what, in next 100 years, there will be friars who will hear that call to Go, therefore, to all nations! anew.  The Lord’s words, the gift you have received, give as a gift, will inspire many new and creative ministries.  At the very heart of all the work of this Province, from its humble beginnings to whatever the future brings, is MISSION.