Spotlight on HCA foundress at Mission Office's Lenten Assemblies

During a series of four Lenten mission assemblies presented across the archdiocese this month, Dominican Sister of Peace Suzanne Brauer reminded the gathered fourth, fifth and sixth graders just how serious their roles are in spreading Christ’s message of love and forgiveness throughout the world.

She said that children even have their own group to help them become better “at-home” missionaries: the Holy Childhood Association, whose motto is “Children Helping Children.”

“How many people here were baptized?” Sister Suzanne asked students attending the assembly for schools located in the River Parishes, a packed event held March 15 inside the school gym at St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace.

“That means that God poured his life and his love into you, and you became members of God’s holy family,” Sister Suzanne said, noting that at baptism, Catholics receive the “same job as the Apostles” to go to the ends of the earth to tell others about the good news of Jesus.

“They did their job spreading Christianity from the Holy Land all the way to Louisiana; now it’s up to us,” she said.

Sister Suzanne introduced students to the color-coded Mission Rosary, in which each decade of beads represents a different continent: white for Europe, the seat of the Holy Father; yellow for Asia, which receives the morning light of the east; blue for the sea that surrounds Pacific Ocean communities; green for the forests and grasslands of Africa; and red for the Americas, which benefited from the “fire” of Christian missionaries.

Attendees also focused their prayer on crosses made in each global region. Although each cross had a different look, Sister Suzanne said the message was the same: “Jesus loved us so much that he died on a cross for us; that’s a lot of love!” she said.

Father James Jeanfreau, archdiocesan mission director, recalled his years as a missionary in Bolivia, where many people had to walk two miles just to get water. Father Jeanfreau pointed to the attendees’ badges, which proclaimed: “I am a missionary.”

“Do you believe that?” he asked. “Hopefully, the way you live that out isn’t imaginary, but put into action. I hope each of you find that call and follow it.”