The Missionaries of God's Love

[The following is from an article that appeared in the Christmas 1995 edition of the Archdiocesan newspaper Catholic Voice.]

One was a solicitor, another an engineer, yet another an architect.

They and others, 21 in all, go to make up the Missionaries of God’s Love, a consecrated group of men with their roots in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and in the Catholic charismatic renewal.

Their vision is one of evangelisation, firstly in Australia, and especially of young people who feel alienated from God and from the Church. In recent years, they have moved out to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and founder Fr Ken Barker believes eventually, in the Lord’s time, they will evangelise in Asia as well.

A word that crops up often in talking to the young men who make up the Missionaries of God’s Love is "radical".

By today’s secular terms, they look anything but radical with their neat hair styles and simple garb of white shirt, brown trousers and sandals.

Their choice of a way to share Jesus’ mission to bring the fire of God’s love to the world, however, is indeed radical.

It involves poverty ("that enables us to move lightly on the journey," says Fr Barker), celibacy and a vigorous prayer life including adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and developing the gift of contemplation.

Among the ways the Missionaries evangelise are through youth camps, university outreach, spiritual retreats, renewal programs, rallies, schools of evangelisation, healing ministry, street evangelisation and pilgrimages.

Fr Barker says the call to poverty - to be poor with Jesus - stems from the very birth of the Missionaries.

In 1985, he and three young men went before the Blessed Sacrament to seek Jesus’ mind for their lives.

"He spoke strongly to us about poverty," Fr barker said. "It struck me, ‘Is it possible in today’s Church to live the gospel in a radical way?’

I felt He wanted us to rely more on Him.

"He spoke words to my heart similar to those He spoke to the rich man. ‘One thing you lack. Sell your possessions, give the money to the poor, then come follow me.’"

Recently ordained Fr Stephen Fletcher, 36 - the Missionaries now have five priests - describes the call to radical poverty and entrusting in God’s providence as one of the drawcards for him.

"The Missionaries are different," he said. "We move under the grace of the Catholic charismatic renewal. We are called to radical poverty. We are itinerant and we place a high priority on preaching the Word.

"St Ignatius called it contemplatives in action."

Fr Fletcher, who was a solicitor before taking a year off to work with youth, will find himself answering this call through appointment next year to the diocesan chaplaincy team to the Aboriginal community in Darwin.

"The chaplaincy, which has existed in Darwin for eight years, is the first attempt to draw together a Catholic Aboriginal worshipping community in a urban environment," he said.

"They asked specifically for someone with a charismatic background."

Tony Schick, 29, who was ordained a deacon this month and will spend a year in Queanbeyan parish,

pursued a career as a scientist before moving to Canberra from Rockhampton to take a job as an engineer.

"I was not terribly satisfied as an engineer," he said. "I wanted to do more for people.

"It was then that I came into contact with Hephzibah and saw the guys in brown and white running around."

The Missionaries of God’s Love operates within the Catholic charismatic covenant community known then as Hephzibah and now as the Disciples of Jesus.

"It was a real coming home," he said. "I felt very mush at home in Hephzibah and joined regardless of any vocation to the priesthood.

"When I began to decide on priesthood, the obvious place was in the Missionaries of God’s Love.

"I found in them a healthy idealism of wanting to get out there and make a real difference, to transform society and renew the Church."

Fr Geoffrey Coombe’s journey into the Missionaries and his present work in building up the covenant community in Papua New Guinea, has been a more circuitous one.

From being a fundamental Baptist as a teenager, he trained to become an Anglican priest and, a week before being ordained to the diaconate, decided to pursue the calling he felt to join the Catholic Church.

"When I talked to Fr Ken, I thought, ‘This is what I’m looking for,’" he said.

"I wanted to live a consecrated life, but I needed to live in a broader community.

"To live it out I need relationships with married people, children and single people and that’s what the Disciples of Jesus covenant community provides."

Fr Coombe said there were times when people looked at the Missionaries and thought they were "too radical in

poverty, that they aren’t caring for themselves.

"It’s certainly not been easy. I came from a comfortable, middle-class family. But, when I went to Papua New Guinea, I found the training here was very good preparation.

"The people there live in even greater poverty, poverty you wouldn’t dream of, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we need to identify and live with them."

Before he joined the Missionaries, Fr Coombe, 43, was an architect for six years. Among his projects was the design and building of St Francis of Assisi School, Calwell.

Anthony Hammon, 27, who took initial vows of poverty, chastity and obedience this month, was a member of the Disciples of Jesus youth mission in Perth when he felt the call to a consecrated life.

"I read the Missionaries’ constitutions and thought, ‘This is me. What I desire actually exists,’" he said.

For Chris Ryan, 20, the youngest member of the Missionaries to take vows, the formation of people to be better equipped to spread the gospel interests him.

"I have a heart for the overseas missions" he said. "There are millions of people who never have the chance to come close to hearing the gospel."

When Chris decided to join the Missionaries of God’s Love, some of his university friends were staggered by his decision to become a priest.

"Some people thought I was nuts," he said. "Others said, ‘Go for it.’"

Chris’ radical response to God’s call to serve typifies that of the rest of "the guys in brown and white".