Four families were commissioned May 26 as Lay Mission Helpers and Mission Doctors to serve for three years in Africa and South America.The ceremony took place at the 10 a.m. Mass celebrated May 26 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Los Angeles. The newly commissioned missionary families include three who have just completed their four-month formation program, and one family who has completed a three-year assignment in Guatemala being commissioned once again for Cameroon.Eric and Logan Horn, with their five children (Helena, James, Max, Isabelle and Sally), will serve in the Diocese of Kumbo, where Eric will teach physics at Saint Augustine College. Coming from Los Alamos, New Mexico, and joining the formation program in January, Logan noted, “We are looking forward to teaching and experiencing a new culture and way of life with our family.” The Martin family from Colorado — Eric and Maura with their three children, Honora, Clare Rose and Patrick — will be serving in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon. Ryan will be the campus minister at the new Catholic University of Cameroon, and Maura, a registered nurse, will work with diocesan medical outreach. “We believe that blessings are not fully enjoyed unless they are shared,” said Maura.Janice England, program director of Lay Mission-Helpers, said, “The bishops who have requested these lay missionaries continue to stress the value of the lay people who serve and witness their faith.” Married doctors Brent Burket and Jennifer Thoene and their four children — Christopher, Elizabeth, Julianne and Nicholas — will serve at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in Njinikom, Cameroon. Brent is originally from Oregon, while Jennifer attended St. Martin of Tours Church in Brentwood and Marymount High School in Westwood (her parents now attend St. Mel in Woodland Hills).This is the third assignment for the couple, who have served in Ghana and just completed a three-year assignment at Hospitalito in Guatemala with their four children. In August they will begin another three-year mission assignment. Dr. Brian Medernach and Dr. Antoinette Lullo, a married couple from Chicago who are expecting their first child in September, will be commissioned for Santa Clotilde Mission in Vicariate Apostolic of San José del Amazonas, Peru. They had already served there for one year before joining Mission Doctors. “We recognize the importance of these classes and how it will help us to communicate, avoid burn-out and not make common mistakes when working abroad,” Brian said of the four-month formation program that prepares them to serve for three years. “I think we are more aware of ourselves and will be able to live and work a more balanced life when back at Centro de Salud Santa Clotilde.”“The witness of faith shared by these families will be a blessing to those they are called to serve in Cameroon and Peru,” said Elise Frederick, executive director of Mission Doctors.For more than 50 years, Catholic men, women, couples and families have followed the call to serve as lay missionaries with these programs, founded in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Msgr. Anthony Brouwers. For more information about Lay Mission-Helpers, call (213) 368-1873 or visit www.LayMissionHelpers.org. For more information about Mission Doctors Association, call (213) 368-1872 or visit www.MissionDoctors.org.{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0531/laymission/{/gallery}
