"The word of the Lord came to me,

and his message was: I claimed you for my own...

I set you apart for myself. . .

I have a mission for you to undertake, a message to entrust to you. Have no human fears;

am I not at your side to protect you from harm?

I have inspired your lips with utterance.

With a word you shall build them up and plant them anew."

Jeremiah 1: 4-10

THE RESPONSE

Table of Contents

Page 5 SERVICES OF THE INTERNATIONAL LIAISON
Page 8 CONTACT PROCEDURE FOR APPLICANTS
Page 10 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Page 39

FOREIGN NATIONAL OFFICES WORKING WITH IN-
TERNATIONAL LIAISON

CENTERS FOR MISSION STUDIES: INSTITUTES,
SEMINARS

Page 40

Page 41

SOURCES OF USEFUL INFORMATION

Page 45 DIOCESAN MISSION OFFICES

Page 47 COALITION MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY
Page 54

CATEGORICAL INDEX: Diocesan Mission Offices

THE RESPONSE is a directory of mission agencies in the United States and in other countries around the world. The booklet is designed to help concerned and inquiring persons to avenues of service within and through the Church in a variety of ministries and occupations which will help them to direct their lives in the continuous search for the fullest and most meaningful way to express their Christian faith. The Table of Contents and the categorical Index should enable the reader to find specific information easily.

The section on Contact Procedure will be a guide for writing or calling the various mission agencies. The reader should study this section carefully. For additional information, write or call the Office of the INTERNATIONAL LIAISON.

INTERNATIONAL LIAISON

The International Liaison, the U.S. Catholic Coordinating
Center for Lay Volunteer Ministries, coordinates

and facilitates the efforts of lay volunteer organizations
for the U.S. Catholic Church. The nature of the work

is within the context of the Christian mission,

specifically Catholic with interdenominational cooperation.

The International Liaison is an affiliate

of the United States Catholic Conference and is co-sponsored by the various mission agencies served. The International Liaison has established communications with dioceses throughout the United States in an effort to present the needs and opportunities for service to the laity of this country.

Every year doctors, nurses, catechists, printers, carpenters, co-op and credit union organizers, community developers. environmental specialists, agronomists, secretaries,

and many other dedicated persons

give of their faith and their talents to people

who are in need. The International Liaison

is not a receiving agency

or a sending agency in the strict sense.

The Office serves as a center of reference,

a switch-board operation

between various agencies and the personnel

they endeavor to recruit.

The International Liaison was founded by Rev. George L. Mader

in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, in June of 1963.

The Office expanded in 1973 to extend its services

to the laity of every diocese. In June of 1975 the Liaison became incorporated as the national Catholic clearing center for the lay volunteer ministries.

In November of 1976 the International Liaison Coalition

was formed. Membership in the Coalition is based upon

the various roles that missions and agencies have

in relationship to the many and varied forms

of volunteer lay ministry. These include sending agencies,

that is, those who recruit and place,

and receiving agencies, those which have specific projects.

In addition to these sending and receiving missions,

such offices as Campus Ministry, Vocations, Diocesan Missions, the Propagation of the Faith, etc., are members

of the International Liaison Coalition.

THE WORD
IN THE
WORLD....

Vatican Council II has pointed to the lay person in no uncertain terms, and to his/her role

in the missionary activity of the Church.

The concept of the laity going to the missions,
the so-called lay missioners, has always been with us.
Men and women were effective collaborators

of the Apostles in the primitive Apostolic Church; they were the ones who contributed towards the extension

of the evangelical message to the whole Greco-Roman world.

The necessity of this new, or "not-so-new" type

of apostle is evident if we want the Church

to realize Christian life in its fullness.

The ministries that the laity engage in are forms of Gospel Proclamation.

The lay missioner sees a specific ministry as the action of his/her faith. Lay missioners share their faith

through their skills and lifestyle.

The WORD is proclaimed, not so much from the pulpit, as it is through a generous heart and a helping hand.

It is the experience of the International Liaison
that dedicated laity from all over the United States
are seeking opportunities

to serve the mission of the Gospel.

THROUGH
VOLUNTEER
SERVICE