One of the aims of our Global Youth Mission Services (theGYM) is to offer young men the opportunity to engage personally in our Mission, be it related to evangelization in Africa, Asia or Latin America or interreligious and intercultural dialogue here in the USA.  

Recently Jonathan McDonald, a senior at Bridgewater State University, was able to enter into a "week in the life of a Xaverian Missionary" by joining our Holliston community during his Spring Break and accompanying members of our community to a variety of opportunities in dialogue and witness.

On Tuesday of that week, Jonathan joined Fr. Adolph and Fr. Rocco, travelling to Boston to take part in the Interfaith Worker Justice Luncheon at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral where a large number of clergy from a variety of traditions engaged in discussion and action planning on the issue of living wages, especially for airport workers at Logan Airport, many of whom are recently arrived immigrants from other parts of our world. On Wednesday at the Holliston Library, Jonathan and Fr. Rocco joined many others from our town to hear Ms. Shaheen Akhtar, a scholar from the Islamic Society of Wayland, as she presented the core understandings of Islam as a religion of peace in the face of fanaticism and Islamophobia that are both making the news and stirring much fear and misinformation in the minds of many. And on Thursday, Jonathan accompanied Fr. Rocco as he presented Catholic Social Teachings through the lens of his African experience to the whole senior class of Xaverian Brothers High School, Westwood, as part of their Awareness Day for the Spring semester.

Between these events Jonathan was able to meet each of us, share his faith and dreams, do a bit of praying as well and find a home and welcome he may return to. He has seriously considered religious life and priesthood for some years now, but found it hard to find a community that would give him a chance to test this out. He graduates soon with a BA in Philosophy and will enter a Masters program in Student Affairs. At Bridgewater State he is a member of a Catholic fraternity and is well known by students of diverse backgrounds. He has a wonderful openness to cultures and varieties of faith traditions that serves him well as a missionary, grounded in our own Catholic tradition and practices, but open to witnessing the love and mercy of God to all. His smile is contagious. We wish Jonathan well as he graduates and look forward to being of any assistance as he fleshes out what Mission may mean for him and his future. If you are interested in experiencing a weekend, week or more to test out your interest in religious/missionary life and service, do not hesitate to contact Fr. Rocco.