Students arriving at St. Jerome School, West Long Branch, the site of the Grammar School Reach-Out program Oct. 23, were greeted by a missionary spirit in both word and deed. Construction paper letters adorning one wall of the cafeteria wove together a message that faith might be proclaimed right at home: “Some give by going to the missions, some go by giving to the missions. Without both, there are no missions.”

In his welcome address, Father Douglas A. Freer, pastor of St. Jerome Parish, echoed the message and noted, “The faith we have is only good if we pass it on to the people who follow after us.”

More than 100 Catholic elementary school students attended sessions during which priests and religious missionaries who had served in more than a dozen nations worldwide shared a glimpse of their ministries abroad.

Missionary Sister of the Holy Rosary Ellen Anderson shared the many blessings she experienced during her 25 years of service as a doctor and general surgeon in Zambia and Kenya.

“Everyone is not like us; people think differently,” Sister Ellen noted as she related the customs held by the African people. Despite the challenges of poverty and disease, she and others from her order enriched the lives of their poorer neighbors both by sharing their Catholic faith and by practical means. “We tried to empower the people with adult literacy classes and microloans for their businesses, and taught them about disease prevention,” she recalled.

A trio of religious from the Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy presented a video portraying their work in the Indian slums of Mumbai. The order’s pastoral care in educating the young while aiding their families in earning a livelihood was reflected in the smiling faces of the uniformed children who lived in the slums but attended the mission Catholic schools.

Brother John Blazzo of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers entertained a group of students with story and song as he related his service in Guatemala and Nicaragua.

“Our Baptism put us on the road to be missionaries,” he asserted. “We must set a good example in our own homes and with our own families.” Brother John urged the initially shy group to join him in a song written by fellow Maryknoll Missionary Jim Johnson relating a conversation between God and biblical figures Abraham and Sarah. “Leave your parents’ home, across the desert roam to a land I will show you,” he sang as he reinforced the reach-out’s twin messages of catechesis and evangelization.

Further reinforcing the message that missionaries of all ages can serve anywhere in the world, Father Alindogan held a commissioning ceremony for the students.

“Share the light of [Christ’s] love by your words and the example of your lives,” the priest beseeched them. “Join me in rededicating ourselves to the task of building up the Church here in our Diocese as well as the missions.” The children responded, “Yes!”

Father Alindogan lauded a number of schools, mission moderators and parish catechetical programs for their contributions to the missions over the 2013-2014 school year. Students in the St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral religious education program contributed $5.05 per capita, while those catechists in St. Rose Parish, Belmar, were responsible for $7.67 in donations per capita.

Elementary Catholic schools in the Diocese also showed their support of the missions through generous donations. St. Jerome School students contributed $14.46 per capita, and those in Villa Victoria Academy, Trenton, donated a total of $18.37 per capita to further missions work throughout the world.

Incarnation-St. James School, Ewing, student Wade Hyshaw was succinct as he related the message he had learned at the annual mission reach-out. “It’s about sharing the love of God with others,” the seventh-grader maintained.

Maggie Caputo, an eighth-grader in St. Charles Borromeo School, Cinnaminson, gave concrete examples of how Catholics her age might act as missionaries in their daily lives. “You can do nice things for others, be nice to your parents, and help out with things like clothing drives,” she said.

Another eighth grade student, Emma Scales of Holy Cross School, Rumson, added, “You can pray and donate, support the missions spiritually and financially.”