Pushing Forward

A Letter from the Editor

Greetings Missio Dei,

I’ve recently came across a letter from the editor from Mike Lewis the founder of Where Peter Is. In some ways, my letter will be similar in tone to Mr. Lewis’.

I want to thank all of our supporters of Missio Dei. I want to give praise to all of our contributors of this publication. The fact has always been, and as I have always said, the Missio Dei community has always been all of you.

During the founding and first year of Missio Dei , the expenses came personally out of my own pocket from website upkeep to beer steins as gifts for founding patrons. In the past year, I have taken a step back from a lot of the leg work of Missio Dei. Thankfully, my co-founder Jonathon has taken a lot of the slack from my weary shoulders. I feel like it’s time for an explanation… something at mass this morning felt it is time for a revelation to many of the readers and writers of this great project.

Part of the reason for my distraction stems from having a young family who need a lot of my time, and rightly so, receive the majority of my focus. But there’s more…

I attend a parish that is largely Spanish speaking immigrants who have such an admirably faith. The charism of Missio Dei was founded in large part on the notion of proclamation of the gospel. I’ve always felt it prophetic, the sense of giving a warning, to many of these people with a great faith of the dangers of the United States of America & their Catholic faith. I speak anecdotally of my own Irish Catholic family, my mother being one of eleven—she is one of two who are practicing Catholics. Italian Catholic immigrants who lived in their own subcultural met largely the same fate as the Irish—the next generations grew up American and secular.

I made the point—The American culture wins out in about three generations.

A year ago, I founded two Catholic Scouting units at my parish. My Dad was a large fixture in Scouting and passed away in 2010. He left me a small portion of money, so I asked the parish if I can help support a youth ministry in Scouting using my Dad’s money. It was met with enthusiasm with 17 kids joining the Cub Scout Pack. I noticed within two weeks kids stopped coming, so I asked around the parish and a religious started scheduling mandatory server practice during the Scout meetings. I approached the religious explaining the situation and asking why server training had to be every week because I hadn’t served a mass for 24 years and could do it still on the spot if it needed to be done… She replied, “I will think about it…”

Sadly, for some reason—I won’t speculate, it became a power struggle with a religious, a situation in which I didn’t want to be involved with at the parish. I came face to face with the power vacuum gaslighting of a religious

Christina M. Sorrentino

has written about here at Missio Dei. The situation led to a prominent family in the parish taking a major step back from being active in the parish and even asking me whether they should look to another parish to attend because of the situation. Any of our friendly pleas to the parish staff fell on deaf ears. People who helped start the scouting unit ghosted phone calls and text messages—why? I don’t know? The Scout units have left being rechartered by another organization. And those people? They started speaking to me again, as if nothing had happened.

My Dad’s money wasted… for what? I love my Dad. I love my Dad. And, those who are suppose to be my brothers & sisters in Christ? Sabotage. Apathetic.

So, the truth is the experience has left me with a sadness when it comes to my faith. I am still attending mass, but there has been a spiritual burden placed on me.

So, I ask for your prayers. I need them.

In the meantime, Jonathon has been the compass for Missio Dei. Let’s applaud him and all of the contributors of this publication. Jonathon has built an incredible Missio Dei YouTube Channel. Chantal LaFortune and Jonathon are pushing forward with the Rosary Project Book. The organization is soon transitioning into a Non-Profit organization with all of Jonathon’s hard work. Thank You.

God Bless All of You!

Phillip