Mags GarganLay faith-based missionary groups are coming together to form a new representative body, to pool resources and lobby for the needs of lay missionaries at home and abroad.
Lay Mission Union Ireland (LMUI) is still in the planning stages, but the origins of the new body dates back to a meeting in 2013, when lay missionary groups issued a statement of identity and a commitment to develop a missionary movement in Ireland into the future.
The new union is being formed by VMM International (Volunteer Missionary Movement), Viatores Christi and other faith-based sending groups and is being supported by the Irish Missionary Union (IMU).
“It will be a support group for lay missionaries, lobbying on their behalf with the Irish Church and raising awareness of their role,” said Sally Roddy, Mission Development Officer with Viatores Christi.
“Whatever shape mission takes in Ireland, there will be a bigger contribution from the laity because of the aging profile of religious congregations, but we need the charism and inspiration of the missionary congregations, which will not be lost if they play a role in forming the missionaries of the future.”
Meanwhile, the IMU are continuing to hold talks with the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) about merging the two groups to create a new organisation to represent their almost completely overlapping membership.