Defining Mission: Comboni Missionaries in North America - Hardcover

Durchholz, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761814272 ISBN 13: 9780761814276

Publisher: UPA, 1999

Synopsis

Defining Mission, offers a glimpse into the daily life and leadership styles of the members of an Italian religious institute struggling to overcome the obstacles faced in America. Patricia Durchholz provides the historical context and diplomatic negotiations involved as a foreign missionary society works and expands in the North American dioceses in Canada, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Louisville, Newark and San Diego. She begins before World War II with the diary of Father Edward Mason, a seasoned African missionary, who sought to offer his services to African American parishes to secure a safe haven for Comboni missionaries facing expulsion from Africa. Durchholz continues the story as other Comboni missionaries struggle to adapt to America and pioneer work in ethnic parishes and missions through the 1960s. The author analyzes the successes and failures of this Italian institute serving African Americans, while detailing the political and religious aspects of the community.

About this title

About the Author:

Patricia Durchholz is an independent researcher and writer in Loveland, Ohio.

Review:

It is a fascinating story of dedication, of strenuous work which led to exhaustion, sickness, and even death. The book presents fascinating sketches of great men. . . . It talks about issues which are still with us today and which often still beg for an answer. (Ennio Mantovani, SVD)

Patricia Durcholz presents an excellent historical overview of the events that preceded and then followed the establishment of the Comboni missionary presence in North America. . . . This book is highly commendable. (Missiology: An International Review)

Durchholz's use of wealth of primary historical sources as well as personal interviews makes this a readable and compelling history. It is a valuable source of information for anyone interested in Catholic church history, missionary congregations and mission in general. (Dr. M. Karecki Missionalia)

a rare glimpse into the work of missionaies to America's often overlooked and mostly non-Catholic minorities: African-Americans, Appalachians, and Native Americans. (Mission Studies)

The author of Defining Mission ... has provided a well-researched study of deep faith and courage, of generous men who came to this country to serve the poor and dispossessed and to seek vocations for their labor of love in Africa. They came in the spirit of their great founder, Father Comboni, whose work for the spiritual and temporal liberation of Africans had few equals. Despite numerous setbacks, they continue to work both in Chicago and Los Angeles among the "poorest and most abandoned," those whom their founder directed them to serve. (FR THOMAS BOKENKOTTER,, author of Church and Revolution and A Concise History of the Catholic Church)

It is a fascinating story of dedication, of strenuous work which led to exhaustion, sickness, and even death. The book presents fascinating sketches of great men. . . . It talks about issues which are still with us today and which often still beg for an answer. (Ennio Mantovani, SVD)

Patricia Durcholz presents an excellent historical overview of the events that preceded and then followed the establishment of the Comboni missionary presence in North America. . . . This book is highly commendable. (Missiology: An International Review)

Durchholz's use of wealth of primary historical sources as well as personal interviews makes this a readable and compelling history. It is a valuable source of information for anyone interested in Catholic church history, missionary congregations and mission in general. (Dr. M. Karecki Missionalia)

About this edition

• Publisher: UPA
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0761814272
• ISBN 13: 9780761814276
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 380