By Salesian Father Michael Mendl
Special to the Herald
Led by Father Dominic Tran, the New Rochelle, New York, province of the Salesians of Don Bosco — which encompasses Canada and the Eastern United States — last month commissioned six men and three women as Salesian lay missioners for service in three countries during the coming pastoral year.
One of the nine missionaries commissioned Aug. 14 is Craig Duff of Kapaa, Kauai, who will go with a fellow lay missioner to Bolivia for service at the Salesian school and mission center there.
Duff, 47, is a parishioner at St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Kapaa. His parents, Kathy and Michael Duff, live in Leesburg, Indiana.
He graduated from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, with a major in landscape architecture, and on Kauai he has been working in that field for Kauai Nursery & Landscaping Inc. for the last six years.
“Because of my past experiences living and teaching overseas, as well as my newfound passion to serve Christ, service as a missionary with SLMs calls to me,” Duff said. “Coming to the discernment retreat and learning more about the Salesians and their values, their educational philosophies and (Don Bosco’s) oratory criteria made a deep impression on me. The Salesian approach of ‘reason, religion and loving kindness’ really connected with me.
“I appreciate that developing relationships with the students is a priority, which is exactly how I have approached education in the past. This approach has helped me connect with each of the unique individuals that I have served as a teacher, and this is something that I hope to bring to my mission post: sharing, caring and connection.
“I have certainly reflected that wherever we are in the world, all places are in need of prayer and spreading of the Good News. Jesus calls all Christians to share Christianity by living the new covenant of Christ.
“I could stay here, in my comfort zone, and spread the Word and serve others. But God gave me certain talents and gifts: that I enjoy living with other cultures and a desire for the ‘simple life’ without all the baggage of modern life and technology. I’m compassionate and empathetic and truly deep down in my soul I love to help people. We’re all called to serve, and we all receive different gifts and serve in different ways. I feel that the gifts that God gave me say something about the way that I should serve Him.
“Thank you for all of these gifts, O Lord, let me use them to shine your light! Your Will be done in all things!”
The commissioning took place during evening prayer on Aug. 14, the vigil of the solemnity of the Assumption, in the chapel of the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, New York. Each missionary was given a mission cross, and all were prayed over and blessed. Each read a short statement of purpose and signed a document of commitment.
Guided by program director Adam Rudin, the nine lay missioners went through three weeks of orientation in Port Chester, New Rochelle and Haverstraw, New York, including mission inculturation, introduction to Don Bosco and the Salesian charism, safeguarding, service projects, a retreat and a hike.
In the SLM program’s 50-plus years, more than 425 volunteers have served in 35 countries, including the U.S., mostly in Salesian or Salesian Sisters’ works, always on behalf of the young and the poor.