Franciscan students bring hope to 18 national and international mission sites

Father Luke, a Polish priest who is reminiscent of a young St. John Paul II, cheerfully drives a truck full of Franciscan University students up to a stone Church that looks out into a verdant Jamaican landscape. Children run up to the truck hollering and smiling. These children wait eagerly for the students to hop out of the truck, allowing them to sprint into the student’s embrace. The sun beats down through widespread palm branches and illuminates the tee shirts each Franciscan student wears, bearing the words “Missions of Peace”.

This is a scene from Seaford Town, Jamaica Mission, one of the 18 mission sites Franciscan sends students every year. Each mission is a little different, but they all have one common thread – spreading the joy of the Gospel and bringing Jesus Christ to people around the world. Most of these missions take place over spring break, while Jamaica missions happens only during Christmas break.

With over four hundred students participating in Franciscan’s missionary outreach program “Missions of Peace” every year, the spirit of St. Francis and his charism of continual conversion is very present in the hearts of the students.

“You are pushed toward continuous conversion on mission by your team and by the people who you serve when you realize that nothing matters expect the people who you are serving,” junior Catherine Swope said after experiencing her mission to Jamaica this January. “Your own comfort, image, and expectations evaporate as soon as you meet the real people who you have been called to encounter,” Swope said.

Franciscan students are always encouraged to practice virtue and love all who they encounter, but Missions of Peace offers students a chance to take that to a new level.

“Missions of Peace puts Franciscan values into action. Rather than live out our faith surrounded by Catholics on campus, mission provides us with the opportunity to go out into the world, make real sacrifices, and follow Christ's command to evangelize concretely,” junior Miriam Nelson said. Nelson will be returning to Ecuador over spring break for her second time with Franciscan.

Many students are currently in the midst of their preparations, as spring break begins March 5.

“Even though mission is only a week long, we’ve spent so many weeks and months preparing to immerse ourselves in the culture that we’ll be living. We’ve even learned songs in Spanish! All of this has made me feel so much more prepared to love and serve,” said junior Anna Perault on preparing for her upcoming trip to Ecuador. This will be Anna’s first time on a Missions of Peace trip.

In addition to Jamaica and Ecuador, students will travel to Belize, Honduras and beyond. But the needs of the United States are not overlooked, as Franciscan students make the trek to locations across the country including the Bronx, Chicago and even locally in Steubenville. On each of these trips, the students encounter Jesus in a true and real way.

In just a few weeks, the four hundred or so students will have gone and come back again. Lives will have been touched around the country and around the world. Prayers will be prayed, children will sing, laugh and dance, tears may be shed, and if all goes as hoped, hearts will have experienced the healing touch of Christ and will never be the same again.

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