Manaolana | Meg, the wandering missionary

With no permanent place to call home, 30-year-old Meg Hunter-Kilmer crisscrosses the country in her car spreading the Gospel. This week she is on Oahu.

Leaving most of your worldly possessions behind and traveling from city to city as a “hobo missionary” for Christ sounds like something straight out of a 12th century saint’s biography.

For 30-year-old Meg Hunter-Kilmer, however, it’s her modern-day way of living out the Gospel’s call for radical discipleship and being a passionate witness for the Catholic faith.

Hunter-Kilmer was scheduled to present a talk called “Sold Out for Christ” Jan. 30 at Resurrection of the Lord Church in Waipio. The diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry organized the event as part of its ongoing Young Adult Speaker Series.

Hunter-Kilmer made her second trip to Hawaii after spending almost two years driving across the U.S., speaking to anyone who wants to know anything about being Catholic. The Washington, D.C., native uses her spunk, wit and humor to share with others her experience of God’s grace.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theology from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to her traveling ministry, Hunter-Kilmer worked as a religion teacher in Georgia and Kansas for a combined five years.

“It was almost creepy how much I loved teaching,” she joked in a phone interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Jan. 23. “I was sad on vacation because I missed my kids so much. It was so rewarding … to know that the Lord was using me to play a role in their journey towards him.”

During the final semester of teaching, Hunter-Kilmer said she began to experience “unrest and a lack of peace.” Her schedules in and out of the classroom had eased, but Hunter-Kilmer said things felt more difficult for her than ever.

“Everything in my life should have been great, and it was just wrong,” she said. “In my experience, if everything external stays the same and the internal has changed, then you need to pay attention to that.”

She prayed about her situation and spoke to a priest spiritual adviser. “A lot of peace” came with the idea of stepping away from teaching, she said. Unsure about what else to do with her life, Hunter-Kilmer pondered the priest’s suggestion to pursue public speaking full-time.

“I was like, ‘Father, you can’t just quit life and be a public speaker,’” she said. “I took it to prayer, and God was like, ‘Tell me why not.’”

Totally bizarre way of living

Hunter-Kilmer would drop her job, steady income and home to follow that call. Not one to normally embrace becoming a vagabond, she called it “a supernatural thing” to be “excited about this totally bizarre way of living.”

Her friends and devout Catholic parents were supportive as well. It wasn’t the first “radical” thing Hunter-Kilmer had done. She once lived in Palestine by herself for a month. She also entered the convent of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist in Michigan. Currently, Hunter-Kilmer is discerning the vocation of consecrated virginity.

Since she started the hobo ministry in June 2012, Hunter-Kilmer has lived almost entirely out of her car, save for being housed along the way by a few gracious acquaintances. She lists her sister’s residence in Virginia as her legal address for taxes and such. Her only living expenses have been for car and health insurance, gas and a cell phone.

More than 50,000 miles have been clocked on her odometer, and she has already been to 48 states.

From conducting church retreats to evangelizing to passersby on the Las Vegas Strip, Hunter-Kilmer has enlightened people on topics such as Catholic apologetics, prayer and Christian morality. She said she doesn’t charge any fees when invited to speak at events. Yet Hunter-Kilmer has been able to get by with magnanimous support from those she has touched.

“People are so kind and so affirming,” she said, and God has been teaching her that “you don’t have to earn people’s love and you don’t have to earn their friendship and their hospitality.”

Her time as a wandering missionary hasn’t been easy. Hunter-Kilmer’s car has broken down frequently. Her father recently passed away. People on the street and on the Internet have called her names and rebuked her messages of faith.

Nonetheless, Hunter-Kilmer said she is called to persevere. In her talk Jan. 30 at Resurrection of the Lord Church, she aimed to tell local young adult Catholics that they, too, must put everything they have out there for Jesus.

Most young adults may not be summoned to preach across the U.S., but all have a special vocation asked of them by God that greatly demands their love, commitment and gifts.

“Radical discipleship, being a Christian, can’t be something that’s just an hour a week,” Hunter-Kilmer said. “If we can begin to understand how desperately God loves us, then I think it gives us the courage to trust that we can be who he’s calling us to be.”

After her trip in Hawaii, Hunter-Kilmer has speaking engagements lined up in several states, which will keep her on the road “at least till October.” Anything beyond that, she said, is in the hands of the Lord.

“God will fill things in, or he’ll make it evident that it’s time to do something else,” she said. “People always say, ‘It’s amazing how you let God be in control of your life.’ I always say, ‘He’s in charge of yours, too, I just know it.’”