Meet a Missionary -SISTER catherine francis lamb, MSBT
My name is Sister Catherine Francis Lamb. This past year I celebrated 60 years as a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity! Never could I imagine how being called to be a Missionary Servant of the Most Blessed Trinity
would stretch my life in so many ways.
What a privilege it is to be with and be part of lives that are different than mine in culture and belief.
In my 60 years of ministry, I have ministered with Cape Verdians, Mexicans, American Blacks, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians and Eastern European people.
My ministry in St. Patrick's Parish in Wareham is to bring the Blessed Sacrament to people who are presently homebound and cannot attend Mass. What a joy it is to help bring peace and comfort to those who in some instances are moving on their journey to be with the Lord.
What an experience in life to be with people who have moved away from the faith at some point in their life and now want to be with the Lord for eternity. We have 12 lay Eucharistic Ministers who share with me in this ministry.
Let me share a true story with you. Fred is homebound and confined to a wheel chair. He has been a practicing Catholic all his life. His wife was non-Catholic and one day as I prayed with Fred I noticed his wife recited all the prayers with us. My first question to Joan was, "how do you know all these prayers"? Her answer
was that she and Fred prayed together for years and throughout her life she attended Mass with several of her friends. I then asked her "have you
ever thought about being a catholic?" She said “no one has ever asked me.” Joan was received into the Catholic Church last year and attends Mass every week. This is not easy for her as she must have someone come and be with Fred. This is not the end of the story but just in some ways the beginning.
Father Judge’s vision was that every Catholic be a missionary; that your spirituality and ministry would be lived out in your everyday life.
Joan is so inspired with becoming a Catholic that she shared her story with one of the visiting nurses who helps with Fred. This young lady is 24 years old and shared with Joan her story of how she wants to be Catholic. She is married and her husband is of the Byzantine rite. This year she has been in RCIA and she will be baptized, confirmed and married in the Catholic Church at Easter. Joan reached out to her in her excitement at coming into the faith and Fred did the praying in his wheelchair. Joan and Fred are truly living out their ministry in their everyday life.
Would all of this have happened if the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity were not here? Possibly, however, because of our charism (gift) of reaching out to others I believe we were the instruments the Lord used for these conversions.
Our community has a long history here at St. Patrick’s. In 2011 St Patrick's parish celebrated 100 years and our Sisters have been here well over 60 years.
From our beginnings in St. Patrick’s the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity began the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate, a lay branch of our Missionary Cenacle Family. The Missionary Cenacle Apostolate members follow the spirituality and charism of our spiritual family.
My day starts with daily Mass and after Mass I spend an hour each day in prayer and meditation with the Lord. I live in our Cenacle on the parish grounds where we have lived for many years, right next to the rectory. Our downstairs has been converted into our Faith and Formation office.
We are a parish with limited means and our parishioners are always ready to share. I visit nursing homes, make rounds to the hospital, serve as a member of our Parish Council, share ministry with the St Vincent de Paul Society, meet with the Renew group, assist with our St. Patrick's table of hospitality for hot lunch every Wednesday. We have started a parish nurses program and have sponsored a Health care fair. It’s a joy to be able to support our parishioners in their Baptismal call to be missionaries!