Most Catholics are probably familiar with Catholic campus missionary organizations. Among the best-known are the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and Saint Paul’s Outreach (SPO), both of which send young adults to evangelize at colleges and universities across the United States.
There’s just one problem: The history of the ministry simply isn't very diverse.
Enter the Catholic Evangelical Missionary People of Color grant, also known as CEMPOC. Don’t be fooled by the name: The organization is conventionally Catholic and is working to fund campus missionaries from underrepresented communities who want to serve the Church but may not have the financial support.
The average missionary for FOCUS, for example, is required to raise more than $3,000 a month in order to sustain their ministries—a tall task for many prospective applicants.
Dr. Mario Dance, a Black Catholic retired veterinarian from Virginia, saw that in various organizations—including Protestant campus missionary organizations—the ask was even greater for many minorities.
With that in mind, he started CEMPOC to help fill the gap in the Catholic Church with grant funding, including at SPO, where he serves as a mission supervisor.
“Most of the full-time missionaries have to call their friends and family and ask them for money, and that's hard for everyone, but it's even harder for people of color sometimes,” Dance said on the latest episode of the Black Catholic Messenger Show.
“I started [CEMPOC] apart from SPO. I knocked on the doors of my friends and family to get money for it and launched it, and it's been going ever since and is growing.”
Part of the challenge for Dance and his partners now is their own fundraising, which has never been easy for people of color in the U.S. Catholic Church. It involves navigating thorny topics of systemic racism and the cultural roadblocks that make it hard for any missionary organization—Catholic or not—to attract minorities for the work.
Yet and still, as long as representation is lacking among campus missionaries, so will go the outreach to diverse communities.
“The first thing the Holy Spirit did was empower the followers of Jesus to speak in languages so that they can reach all the cultures that were represented there,” Dance said.
“If that is the beginning and the end of the story, what is happening in the middle here? We're not doing what we're supposed to be doing if all we see is one ethnic group, culture, or expression in our ministry.”
Listen to the full episode with Dr. Dance below or on your favorite podcast platform!
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
