"It is Jesus who you are looking for when you
dream of happiness. It is Jesus who inspires you to
do something great with your lives, to long for an
ideal, to reject mediocrity, to bravely commit, with humility and
perseverance, to improve yourselves and society, making it stronger and
more fraternal" (John Paul II, World Youth Day, 2000, Rome).
A
Challenge
How many times have you asked yourself why is
there so much suffering in the world?
How many times have
you asked your friends how it was possible that so
many people still do not know our Lord Jesus Christ?
Haven´t
you ever felt you had to do something about it?
If
you want to be a living witness of the Gospel...
If you think that people need answers and not just
words...
If you are willing to give time to help
others...
If you want to be part of the solution
that the world needs...
… then, accept the challenge to join
those who are doing something to change the world!
The Regnum
Christi Movement offers you the opportunity to do something more
for the Church and for souls as a RC Mission
Corps volunteer. There are many young men and women today
taking up the challenge, tackling the needs of the Church
and the world. They are striving not only to give
an answer but to be an answer.
The Second Vatican
Council says: "After accepting these charisms, including the more elementary
ones, each believer acquires the right and duty to use
them in the Church and in the world for the
good of men and to build the Church, in the
freedom of the Holy Spirit who ´breathes where He will´"
(Decree On The Apostolate Of The Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem, 3).
Joining the RC Mission Corps is one way to commit
yourself to "build up the Church"; it is an opportunity
to fulfill the commission Christ gave his followers before he
ascended to the Father: "Go into all the world and
proclaim the good news to the whole creation" (Mt 28:19).
Who
is a RC Mission Corps volunteer?
RC Mission Corps volunteers are
young Regnum Christi members who dedicate one to three years
of their lives to full-time apostolic work wherever the Church
most needs them, as a particular way to love Christ
and bring others to love him more. Each volunteer participates
in an apostolate that is both suited to his talents
and effective in achieving the goal of bringing Christ to
every person, of every age and in every walk of
life.
RC Mission Corps volunteers generally live in a Regnum Christi
center. There they receive ongoing formation to be Christ’s true
apostles, as described below. Prayer and apostolate allow them to
receive a genuine and intimate experience of God that will
impact the rest of their lives, teaching them to always
put God first.
It takes generosity and sacrifice to live as
a volunteer, but it also brings great satisfaction and joy.
You try to love God, he challenges you to put
your selfishness aside, and he blesses you with happiness in
return.
The volunteer´s spiritual life is focused on a deep
and personal experience of God, growing in personal knowledge of
him and a desire to bring him to others, thus
making St. Paul´s expression your own: "Woe to me if
I do not proclaim the Gospel" (I Cor. 9:16).
What
Formation Does A Volunteer Receive?
The RC Mission Corps program weaves
together the spiritual, human, intellectual and apostolic dimensions of life,
and this formation should continue throughout life after the volunteering
years are over.
Spiritual Dimension
The spiritual dimension is indispensable if
we are to be apostles. Therefore, volunteers strive to grow
in their union with God, through prayer and the sacraments.
Christ is their friend and companion in their everyday struggles,
and he is the cure they will offer for the
wounds of so many men and women, and the certain
hope to quench their every longing. This is the face
of God, which volunteers find in their times of prayer
and solitude. If Jesus is not in their hearts, they
know they are missing the center that gives meaning to
everything they are and do.
The spiritual life is still
more. It entails making the Christ the center of their
lives, living in the heart of the Church, with Mary
our Mother, rooted in an ardent spirit of charity shown
in working to save souls and in an unbreakable adherence
to the Vicar of Christ.
Human Dimension
Volunteers also need to
form themselves in the human virtues and values, so as
to achieve their complete human development; supernatural grace needs that
human foundation in order to give rise to the lay
apostle that the world needs today. Each one works on
a personal program of human formation and growth to build
a rich and balanced personality, taking care to develop such
virtues as: a mature and upright conscience, a sense of
responsibility, trustworthiness, strength of will and self-control. These qualities stand
them in good stead in any apostolate as well as
their future professional and family lives.
Apostolic Dimension
Christ needs
your arms, legs and mouth to bring him and speak
his word where is not yet known, or where his
memory has been erased. Volunteers are ready to go anywhere
so that Christ can reach the greatest possible number of
people. Thus there are volunteers in places as diverse as
the United States, Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, The Czech
Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and
others.
The do a variety of apostolates: youth groups and
children´s groups, urban and rural evangelization missions, teaching catechism to
children and teens, some even in universities and colleges --
wherever the Church needs them and their abilities allow them.
Since
good intentions are no substitute for formation, volunteers also receive
the necessary training to become apostles for Christ, developing the
talents that will enable them to better fulfill their mission:
public speaking, organizational skills, group leadership skills, often undertaking projects
they never would have thought themselves capable of. "If God
is with me, who can be against me?"
Intellectual Dimension
Volunteers prepare themselves in a series of courses before beginning
their apostolic work. They learn to give reasons for their
faith, as St. Peter tells us: "Always be ready to
make your defense to anyone who demands from you an
accounting for the hope that is in you yet do
it with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet 3, 15-16).
If
you really want to evangelize today´s world you need to
give it both the reasons and the witness of your
faith. This is what the world needs. As well as
the introductory courses, which are an integral part of the
formation, each volunteer has a personal reading and study program
to prepare for the work ahead.
Contact Us
"In a pluralistic
society like your own, we need a greater and more
incisive Catholic presence, of individuals and communities, in every sector
of public life. Therefore, it is unacceptable and contrary to
the Gospel to reduce religion to merely private practice, paradoxically
forgetting the essentially public and social dimension of the human
person. Go, then, to the streets and live your faith
with joy, imbuing families, schools, culture and politics with Christ´s
salvation" (John Paul II, Homily in Madrid, 5 June 1993).
If
you are interested in being a RC Mission Corps volunteer,
you can download the informational brochures and applications here:
RC
Mission Corps brochure for young men.
RC Mission Corps
brochure for young women.
RC Mission Corps application
for young men.
RC Mission Corps application for
young women.
Questions? Contact us at infoeng@regnumchristi.org.