Saint Isidore Corps’ Mission
Saint Isidore Corps Missionaries serve and provide fellowship to those residing in low-income and rural communities in Central Maine. Through our close partnership with local priest Father Paul Dumais, of the Portland Diocese, St. Isidore Corps Missionaries help to foster the communal and spiritual development which may lack the funding and support required to meet the needs of the community. Deeply rooted in prayer and liturgy, our missionaries are provided with the spiritual guidance and support necessary so that they can in turn be available to help with the needs of the parish families of St. Rose of Lima and St. Joseph’s in Jay and Farmington, Maine.
While St. Isidore Corps Missionaries remain flexible and open to serving the community in whatever capacity needed, the main charism of Saint Isidore Corps is focused on a ministry of presence. This central ministry understands the needs of the human person as being not merely physical, but social, psychological, and spiritual. Keeping this holisitic understanding of the human person in mind, SIC’s ministry of presence aims to serve people primarily by spending time with them, getting to know them, and seeking to serve their most present needs whether physical, spiritual, or other.
Interestingly it is in this role primarily that missionaries find themselves being served spiritually and personally as they witness first hand the richness of rural life and enjoy the slower pace that St. Isiodore himself enjoyed. Tending to families, individuals, the land, and the communities, SIC missionaries learn the importance of steadfast and abiding presence and service that is rooted in the True Presence of God both in the Eucharist and the Mystical Body of Christ found in the many community members the missionaries encounter. This ministry of presence is practiced intentionally through the service act of visiting parish members in their homes.
Besides the home visits, missionaries witness and serve the community by attending small groups, working with the parish food pantries and thrift store, and by engaging the youth through friendship and guidance.
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