How Twyford is helping build our future Church:
Red Box Local Secretary, Christiane, read an article in Mission Today about a Birmingham parish supporting seminarians overseas via Missio. In the Spring edition of Mission Today, we share how she and fellow parishioner, Jack, were inspired to sponsor a future priest in their parish of St Thomas More in Twyford (Portsmouth Diocese).
‘It just sounded so nice, and they were so enthusiastic about it,’ says Christiane. ‘I thought, if we can have a small group, then it’s not as a heavy commitment as one person doing it alone.’
Jack agrees:
‘The idea of joining together as a parish means people can put according to their ability. We are sponsoring a seminarian as the parish, which is very good because it is a community thing; it appeals to people.’
Watch Jack and Christiane’s conversation and see clips of seminarians helped by sponsors in England and Wales here:
How sponsorship works
When you sign up to Missio’s sponsorship programme, you register – as an individual, a group or a parish – to sponsor a seminarian in one of our five seminary partner locations: India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kenya or Malawi. This means a commitment to raising £500 a year, for four years. So far, Christiane and Jack already have seven families supporting the project and there are more joining. They report:
‘We’ve already got £2,000 this year, and some contributors have committed a sum on a yearly basis.’
Missio receives the names of seminarians who have almost completed their formation from our five seminary partners. A key element of the programme that a seminarian is allocated to a sponsor, who will receive the name of a student.
The student will also receive the name of the sponsor and hold them and their loved ones in prayer. Sponsors can choose to correspond, if they so wish through Missio, as personal contact information is held privately.
Jack told us:
‘It will be nice to focus prayers on a particular person. It would be similar to having a pen pal, I think. You have this link in another country and they become part of the family. We hope whoever is allocated to us would be able to become part of our parish family.’
Everyone’s invited!
Since their initial conversation with us, Christiane and Jack’s group have received the names of two seminarians who will receive help and support from the St Thomas More Twyford Sponsorship Group, along with letters from their sponsees.
They enthusiastically encourage other parishes thinking of setting up a similar group. Christiane shares:
‘It’s a good way to include everybody, whether they can give 50 pence or £50. Everybody has a chance to donate. I had a warm feeling about the reaction we had to our project. People probably wouldn’t have thought of sponsoring a priest, but then they saw this as an opportunity to do so.’
Jack agrees:
‘We’re already thinking that once we started this in our parish over here in Saint Thomas More the same idea could be regenerated in the other churches that form our parish. They could start something themselves, or join with us here.’
They see the sponsorship group as an expression of their mission in the Church. Jack says:
‘My perspective on mission is that we’ve been given a task from Jesus, who says: “spread my Word”. That’s what I have to do with whatever means I’ve got at my disposal. It doesn’t have to be financial; it’s spiritual, financial and material. So, any way that I can further that task that Jesus has given me, then that is my mission.’
Christiane agrees:
‘We can’t all be “on mission” in that way, but we can support them in whatever way we can. I’ve been committed to the Red Boxes for a number of years as well; that’s my commitment to mission. That’s where I feel comfortable and happy to help.’
A huge thank you to St Thomas More in Twyford for supporting vocations overseas! To find out more and to get support in starting a similar project in your parish, family or as an individual, click here>>