New Rochelle Province Commissions 9 Lay Missioners
Led by Fr. Dominic Tran, SDB, the Salesian New Rochelle Province commissioned 6 men and 3 women as Salesian Lay Missioners for service in 3 countries during the coming pastoral year. The commissioning took place during Evening Prayer on August 14, vigil of the solemnity of the Assumption, in the chapel of the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, N.Y.
During the commissioning rite, 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.
The 9 SLMs come from the states of Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Dakota and the province of Ontario. Two
of the volunteers are adults who’ve had careers; the younger adults range in
age from 19 to 24. Seven are college graduates.
Fr. Tran places a mission cross
over the head of Matthew Heidenreich
Four of the men will go to mission territory in Amazonian Ecuador,
sanctified by the holy labors of St.
Maria Troncatti, FMA (1883-1969), as well as by Fr. Thomas Brown, SDB (1939-1995),
an American medical missionary. Brendan Moorehouse, Matthew Heidenreich,
Richard Lytle, and Keaton McCollum will be the first SLMs missioned to that part
of the Salesian world. The Ecuador Province has been sending its mission volunteers
there for years.
Two women, Noelle Chmelik and Veronica D’Andrea, will serve
at Hogar Sagrado Corazon, a girls orphanage in Montero, Bolivia. Dozens of SLMs
have ministered there over the years, but none since 2020.
Veronica D'Andrea reads
her mission statement
Craig Duff and Ephraim Black are going to the Salesian school
and mission center in Okinawa, Bolivia, another work served by a lot of SLMs,
but not recently.
Joanne Maher will serve at the provincialate of the Salesian
Sisters in San Antonio, Texas.
Brendan Moorehouse signs
his commitment document
Under the direction of program director Adam Rudin, the 9
SLMs went thru 3 weeks of orientation in Port Chester, New Rochelle, and Haverstraw,
including mission inculturation, introduction to Don Bosco and the Salesian
charism, safeguarding, service projects, a retreat, and a hike in Harriman
State Park. Mr. Rudin was assisted by 3 SLM veterans, Fr. Craig Spence, SDB,
Douglas Hindman, and Angel Nunez.
In the SLM program’s 50+ 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.
About 25 Salesians participated in 2026’s commissioning liturgy, along with half a dozen returned SLMs and about 20 youths from 2 Salesian schools who were at the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Haverstraw-Stony Point for a week-long service-retreat program.
Fr. Tran’s homily focused on God’s call to make Christ
present, whether we do that in the missions or in our ordinary lives. The
Virgin Mary models that for us; when she visited her relative Elizabeth, both
Elizabeth and unborn John recognized the presence of Jesus immediately on
Mary’s greeting her cousin, before she did a single thing.
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