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Mission Honduras International
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty ... One Child at a Time
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Letter to Supporters
September 2009
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Greetings!
In light of our current suspension of funding to the mission in Honduras until an effective Child Protection Program is implemented - a situation that we have documented in previous communications with you - we are writing to assure you of three things:
1. We are continuing to support the mission in Liberia, which includes a boarding facility and St. Anthony of Padua school. In fact, we are now the sole supporter of that mission, so it is even more imperative that we continue to raise funds for them. The over 200 children served at Liberia Mission are safe under new child protections, and the mission is being run by two of our best people, Jerome and Clarisa Cabeen. If you choose to donate through Mission Honduras International, you can be assured that your donation will go directly to support the Liberia Mission. Your donations continue to be tax-deductible, and we publish a financial statement each year that is available to the public upon request.
2. Superiors in the Franciscan Order have taken strong action to review and resolve the situation in Honduras. Fr. Emil has been ordered by these superiors not to travel to the United States or do any type of fundraising here until the situation is resolved. They are planning to hold a summit of the parties involved, including Mission Honduras International.
3. APUFRAM International, a U.S. based group that supports the mission sites administered by Honduras-based APUFRAM, continues to send out requests for funds from the United States that include much misinformation. We have decided not to respond in kind to APUFRAM's statements or allegations. However, we are willing to answer any and all questions our donors might have. You can send them to us at info@missionhonduras.com or call us at 773-349-4001 and we promise to respond completely and truthfully.
We would also like to warmly welcome Fr. Christian T. Moore, OFM Conv., and Fr. Donald Halpin, OFM Conv., who are generously serving as spiritual advisors to Mission Honduras International. We are grateful for their service to this ministry and look forward to their guidance as we move forward.
We also think it might be important for you to know about the other leaders of MHI. Below are short biographies of our spiritual directors, board members and key staff.
Truly, the MHI family is all of us - donors and volunteers like you are the hands and hearts of the mission, providing the opportunity for children and their families to break the cycle of poverty.
Please join us and continue supporting this life-changing work. If you have any questions, please contact us. Thank you for your generosity and prayers.
God Bless,
Bob O'Dwyer
bodwyer@missionhonduras.com
Acting President
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Mission Honduras International Please consider making a Special Donation to help ensure we can continue
the mission and ministry - today and in the future.
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Welcome Fr. Christian Moore, OFM Conv. and
Fr. Donald Halpin, OFM Conv.
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 Fr. Christian T.
Moore, OFM Conv. As MHI's Spiritual Advisor, Fr. Christian shares a life
of ministry as a teacher, campus minister, hospital chaplain, and pastor. Born
in Denver in 1938, Fr. Christian attended grade school in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1952, he went to Mount St. Francis and has been with the Franciscans ever
since. He became friends with Fr. Emil Cook in college at the University of
Dayton and Theological Seminary in Chaska, Minnesota.
In 1971, Fr. Christian spent the summer with Fr. Emil and
was very impressed with his simple living, his close connection with the
people, his ability to get American volunteers to come visit the missions, and
his focus on a few simple goals which he was very persistent in following.
Since then, "I have been impressed by the growth of his missions and recruitment
of volunteers over the years. It has been spectacular." Fr. Christian has
visited the missions in Honduras four times, leading two of his parishes on a
short visit.
Fr. Christian holds an MA from Assumption Seminary (1965)
and an MA from the University of Minnesota (History and Sociology, 1965). In
1969 he earned his professional principal's license. And, in 1979, he received
a D. Min. (Doctor of Ministries) from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.
Throughout his years of ministry, Fr. Christian has been a
teacher and principle at Mount St. Francis (1965-75) where he organized youth
retreats, Junior Third Order, men's retreats, and was the coordinator of
Released Time Education for Floyd County. He has been a campus minister
(1976-81); a hospital chaplain (1983-85); Pastor of St. Joseph in Chicago
Heights (1985-1990); Pastor of St. Anthony in Lorain, Ohio (1990-2000); and a
Spiritual Assistant, Secular Franciscans (2001-02).
Since 2002, Fr. Christian has been the Pastor of Incarnation
Parish in Louisville. He writes, "I want to do all I can to help heal the
situation with the Honduran/Liberian Missions. The ministry is so important."
 Fr. Donald Halpin,
OFM Conv., Spiritual Advisor. I was born in Toledo, Ohio, May 23, 1943, son
of Donald Cass Halpin and Blanche Marie (Welter); we were seven siblings, and I
was the youngest. My family calls me Philip. Then as Friar Donald, my first
profession as a Conventual Franciscan took place in July 1962; then I was
ordained a priest, July 1972. Parish work involved positions in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin; Louisville, Kentucky. Retreat work then has taken the greater
portion of my priesthood, working in Franciscan Retreats in Prior Lake,
Minnesota; Mount St. Francis, Indiana; Carey, Ohio. Also for five years, I
worked in a freelance retreat ministry while living in Canton, Ohio. During
that time I was giving parish missions, along with frequent retreats,
especially one-on-one directed retreats for segments of eight to thirty days.
After a preliminary visit in Africa, 1984-1985, I returned
as a missionary in 1996 and worked in Zambia and other countries of Africa
(including Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya). In Lusaka, Zambia, I directed a house of
prayer called Assisi House, located at St Bonaventure College in Lusaka. Again,
those were a lot of directed retreats, along with ongoing spiritual direction.
I said goodbye to Africa in July 2008, and I am presently located at a retreat
center at Mount St. Francis, Indiana. The lovely hills of southern Indiana are
a pleasant home, living in a community of twelve Franciscan priests and
brothers, and the work of retreats continues on. A specialty within the retreat
work of Mt. St. Francis continues to be directed retreats. In a house on the
property - Loftus House - private and directed retreats are offered in a "house
of prayer" setting. I am presently director of that house. I enjoy striving to
practice meditation, deeper prayer styles, prayer with Scripture.
In
various times over the years, I have met Fr. Emil Cook. I appreciate his gentle
enthusiasm, love of the poor. It has been said of Emil that no one who is in
need, asking for help, goes away without that help through the care of Emil. He
certainly has a way of making connections: the hand of a willing donor into the
hand of the poor.
The
projects started by Emil seem to never end: expanding and extended into other
lands and countries. While I have never visited Honduras, I have been to
Guatemala - seeing there the ways the poor are helped.
Also,
after years of serving in Africa, I am interested in making sure Mission
Honduras International continues a Franciscan identity in what has been started
in Mission Liberia. I feel we as Franciscans have an easily formed bond with
Africans. Their love of the soil, love of creation, all fits into our
spirituality. The people of Africa have a beauty all their own: when blessed
with a happy smile, self-confidence, and hope for the future, their countenance
is beautiful - full of life.
As there are expressed problems,
concerns, burdens for Mission Honduras International these weeks, I wish to
serve out of an objective viewpoint, hopefully helping in a search for
spiritual meaning in the present conflicts, as well as possibly becoming a
reconciling voice.
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Board of Directors and Staff
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John and Sue Dewan.
John is the Treasurer, Board Member and former president of MHI. He and Sue are
both members of the Advisory Group. John began his work with Fr. Emil in 1976,
when he volunteered in Gualaco, Honduras for three months. John is a licensed
actuary and the co-publisher of ACTA Publications, a publisher of books on
religion, sports, and community organizing (www.actapublications.com). John and
Sue own Baseball Info Solutions, a baseball information company, and were
founders of STATS, Inc., a world-wide sports data provider. They also started
the Dewan Foundation, which funds projects that help people get out of poverty,
and Camp Dewan, a camp for city youth, boy scouts and girl scouts and other
family-oriented activities. They have two children and belong to St. Mary of
the Woods Catholic Church in Chicago.
Dave Dionisi,
Board Member. Dave is married, the father of three boys, and an author of
two books. He is a former Fortune 500 senior executive and has started several
successful businesses. Dave is the President of the Teach Peace Foundation
which works to help people with projects including delivering emergency
life-saving aid and teaching children kindness. Dave's business, military,
and ongoing not-for-profit service in Africa and Central
America is beneficial to MHI as an organization caring for children
in these same locations.
Bob and Kathy O'Dwyer.
Bob is Acting President and a Board Member. He and Kathy are both members of
the Advisory Group. Bob and Kathy met as members of the Third
Order of St. Francis. They have been
married for 32 years and have 3 sons. They were introduced to Fr. Emil's work
more than 30 years ago through the Franciscans.
Bob is a Computer Network Engineer and Kathy
teaches 7th grade Social Studies. Both
have been and are still active in the Boy Scouts
in numerous leadership roles. They are also active at St. Terrence parish in
Alsip, Illinois where Bob taught CCD for 10 years and Kathy sings in the choir.
Bob traveled to Honduras for the first time in 2003 and was deeply affected by
the pervasive poverty he saw there. He has created several of the videos that
Fr. Cook has used on his fundraising trips to the U.S. Bob is currently
volunteering as the President of MHI.
Joan Fabiano,
Executive Director and Board Member. Joan has served as Executive Director since March 2004. She
brings a breath of experience in education, social work, and ministry. After
earning her BA in History and Teaching and teaching social studies at Lourdes
Catholic H.S., Joan earned a Masters in Social Work from Loyola University in
Chicago. An LCSW and ACSW, she worked with the Chicago Department of Human
Services as a Crisis Intervention Specialist, a Program Coordinator, and a
District Manager. A long-time supporter of the missions, Joan has traveled to
Honduras, Dominican Republic and Liberia, West Africa numerous times, including
four trips to Liberia Mission. In addition to being an avid world traveler,
Joan is very active in parish ministry.
Jerome and Clarisa
Cabeen, Directors of Liberia Mission. Jerome is a former high school
basketball coach turned missionary. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, he
attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville,
Texas and earned a BA in Fine Arts and Education. Jerome arrived in
Honduras in September 2004 where he worked with the poor of Honduras and served
as the volunteer center's house director in el Conejo. Clarisa and Jerome met
in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, where Clarisa worked and Jerome often
picked up volunteer groups. Married in June 2008, Jerome and Clarisa moved to Liberia, Africa and are
currently serving as the Directors of Liberia Mission, Inc. Jerome loves music,
going to concerts and working with children and the poor. Clarisa brings her
gentle compassion and deep faith to the children of the mission as a teacher
and mentor.
Monica Desmond Looby, Communications and
Development Director. Monica and her husband Todd served in Honduras for
seven months this past year. During that time, they worked closely with both
the children and mothers of APUFRAM and with North American service groups.
The smiles,
love and also the hardship they witnessed will be with them forever. Monica's experience
includes direct social service work, research, nonprofit
communications, community organizing and public policy advocacy. She holds an
MA from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.
Prior to volunteering in Honduras, Monica was the Director of Public Policy
for the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness and co-chair of the St.
Alphonsus Peace and Justice Committee. Monica and Todd now live in Chicago
with their dog, and are working on a documentary film entitled "Solo Madres."
Harris Mulbah -
House Father, Liberia Mission
Helena Gonyon - House Mother,
Liberia Mission
Augustine Nufea - House Father,
Liberia Mission
Olivia Glama - House Mother, Liberia
Mission
Benjamin Wollor- Spiritual Director
and Big Brother to the children of Liberia
Mission
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