Last week, Corazon Puro sponsored a seven-day bilingual missionary formation gathering for Church ministry leaders and volunteers in its main location, Saint Crispin’s Friary on East 156th Street in the Bronx.  

Corazon Puro is a Catholic outreach ministry for youth and young adults. Its annual Missionary Formation Week (MFW) ran August 5-11. The event included speakers from the clergy and the laity, with programming in both English and Spanish and was made possible with a grant from the Lilly Endowment. About 75 people from the Archdiocese of New York and beyond attended, including participants from other countries. (Corazon Puro has missions in the U.S., along the Mexico/Texas border, Nicaragua, and the Philippines.)            

Brandon Price, 25, a volunteer at Church of Our Saviour in the Bronx, was among the MFW participants. He helps his parish in several capacities, including serving in catechism, youth ministry, and young adult ministry.                       

“This is my first time with Mission Formation Week, but I’ve been to the monthly meetings,” Price told The Good Newsroom before the Friday, August 9 lunch break. “I think it’s important for me to engage people around my age so that I can better grow with Christ…The week has been going well. It’s taught me a lot about obedience and humility – to say ‘yes’ to God, to do the will of God.”  

Citing a talk from that morning on “fraternal correction,” he added, “Everything may not always go your way when you want to help somebody. But it’s OK, as long as you did your job, you did the will of God. And you do it because of the person that you know and that you want to help – and you pray for them… My faith helps me evaluate what is my purpose in life and what I’m going to do for others.”  

On fraternal correction

In that morning talk on fraternal correction, Father Jean-Paul Soler, pastor of St. Clement and St. Michael Parish on Staten Island, spoke to the ministry laity, in part, about virtues: “Charity and love: They are the same, it’s just two different words for the same thing… It’s about, ‘I love them, so I want to make them move closer to God.’…Justice: Justice is a virtue that looks to give each what they deserve,” Father Soler said.   

“Fraternal correction is to reprove or to admonish a brother or sister with love for their own good where and when it would benefit them. It is to correct someone over whom you don’t have authority,” the priest added, citing the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas. “St. Thomas lists fraternal correction not under justice; he lists it under love, under charity – because it’s for their own good to benefit them. The important thing is that you do it out of love for them, for their own good. That means you have moved forward for God.”  

Monna Señara, 33, was also among the MFW participants. She is a volunteer outreach worker with Corazon Puro’s mission in the Philippines. “I am a committed server for a year, and I also head our Social Media and Promotions Committee,” Señara told The Good Newsroom before entering a morning MFW workshop.     

“I really want to learn more; I want to grow as a server. I want to receive from the source (Corazon Puro) because it’s originally from here, in New York – so that me and my companions from the Philippines, we can bring back the same spirit and the same teachings. It’s really great; it’s amazing. I’m really touched by the fervor of the servers here, of the participants, also of friars and priests who gave us talks. It’s very inspiring to see young adults here in the U.S. who are on fire; it really encourages me…What really stood out for me was that fraternal correction is about charity; it’s about love – to love the other person, because that’s what Jesus calls us to do.” 

Father Agustino Torres, CFR (Franciscan Friars of the Renewal), is chaplain and president emeritus of Corazon Puro, which he co-founded in 2008. Father Torres was among the speakers during Missionary Formation Week, and he led Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; he and other priests were on hand for confessions. 

Vitality of our communities      

“Our goal is not only to support leaders in their current service but also to share best practices that prevent burnout, which is increasingly common. By investing in the development of these leaders, we invest in the vitality of our communities for the long term,” Father Torres told The Good Newsroom. “Our young people are full of zeal, but we help them build a firepit to help this flame, to keep on going.”     

“A lot of our young leaders need accompaniment; we ask them to be leaders teaching catechism, reading at Mass, and leading retreats. But who is walking with them? We try to fill this need… Missionary Formation Week trains young people how to teach, break open the Word of God and preach in a way that reaches hearts. Perhaps this might lead to a few of the men to feel a call to the priesthood or to become a Catholic speaker. This is our hope,” Father Torres noted.

The Corazon Puro Missionary Formation Institute program is designed for young adults ages 18 to 35. It focuses on five steps to encourage participants to grow in their faith and become effective missionaries: prayer, study, service, community, and mission. Organizers said prayer is the foundation of missionary formation and that young adults should make time for daily prayer and reflection. 

For more information, visit Corazon Puro.