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LAMP Ministries is a Catholic lay
missionary association, comprised of people
who serve among the materially poor, with a
focus on evangelization. LAMP missionaries may
be married couples, single men and women, as
well as religious brothers, sisters and priests. |
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A Call
To Holiness |
Are
you called to the mission of
Lamp? |
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Make
A Donation |
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Although you may
not be able to visit a materially poor person or
family in a crowded shelter or walk-up apartment
in the New York City Metropolitan area, you can
help to make it possible for a LAMP Missionary
to do so. |
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"You,
Lord, give light to my lamp; my God, You brighten the
darkness about me."
- Psalm 18:28 |
LAMP's History
(Continued)
This led
them to reflect on the need that existed for lay
missionaries to serve in poor parishes in the
metropolitan New York City area. One warm
afternoon, while praying and sharing about their
ministry, they realized that there was a need for a
ministry to facilitate and enable such an outreach,
and possibly they should begin it. On the one hand
there were very poor parishes that couldn’t afford
to hire someone to serve in evangelistic outreaches
as: home visiting, youth ministry, sacramental
preparation, Scripture sharing groups, etc.. On the
other hand, possibly there are other lay persons who
wanted to serve the poor, but wanted to do it with
an emphasis on evangelization, and do not know where
or how to do it. Over subsequent weeks, through
prayerful reflection and discussion, they began to
put their thoughts on paper, and then circulated
their ideas to a number of Church leaders they knew
and respected around the country. While all
responded affirmatively, some doubted if anyone
would be generous enough to answer such a call.
One friend, whose support and guidance was greatly
valued, was Rev. Alvin Illig, C.S.P., the then
Director of the Paulist National Office of Catholic
Evangelization. Upon calling him to tell of this
vision, he immediately offered a grant of $5,000 to
help it begin.
In prayerfully seeking a name
for this ministry, Tom & Lyn eventually arrived on
“LAMP Ministries”. The many scriptural references
to the word “lamp” were significant, including John
the Baptist being called the “bright and shining
lamp” (John 5:35, preparing the way for Jesus. It
also could fit well the acronym, “Lay Apostolic
Ministries with the Poor”, which articulated well
the vision to which the Holy Spirit had guided
them. They put significant emphasis on the word
“with”, as opposed to “to” or “for” the poor. The
importance of that word was frequently the source of
subsequent teachings for the LAMP Ministers, as well
as significantly referred to in Cardinal O’Connor’s
Sunday homily on the homeless on Feb. 7, 1993, when
he shared about LAMP and read excerpts from The Poor
and the Good News.
It was very important for the Scheurings that LAMP
have an ecclesial vision, that it be clearly
connected with the Catholic Church from its
inception. After attempting to make this connection
through various Chancery Offices in the New York
Archdiocese, they eventually wrote to their good
friend, Bishop Francisco Garmendia, in the South
Bronx.
He encouraged them to write directly to Terence
Cardinal Cooke, the Archbishop of New York at that
time. The Cardinal was somewhat familiar with the
Scheurings through their earlier book on married
spirituality, Two For Joy. They wrote to the
Cardinal, asking his blessing on their beginning
LAMP.
Page 2 of 3 [Next]
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