About Sending Out Servants
Our Mission and a little History
Our Mission
The mission of SOS is to be a vehicle for the Holy Spirit to grow World Christians by:
Raising a peaceful awareness of life conditions that exist in much of the world through short-term cross-cultural mission experiences;
Promoting long term relationships based on mutual trust and respect with those we seek to serve;
Offering culturally acceptable approaches in responding to basic needs for clean water, shelter, medical and spiritual care, educational and job opportunities in areas where these rights are denied;
Promoting self-reliance by empowering those in need while being mindful not to alter the traditions and customs of a culture; and
Seeking parishes or organizations in the USA to sponsor identifiable needs within a host country so as to broaden the invitation to work for justice and global solidarity.
SOS is a 501c3 non-profit Catholic mission organization headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1998 by Ernest and Connie Braren and Reverend Thomas Ponzini and became incorporated in 1999.
SOS is not a ministry within a parish but rather it is an independent Catholic mission organization that operates with the approval and blessing of both Archbishop Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and Bishop Rosolino Bianchetti Boffelli of the Diocese of Quiché, Guatemala.
SOS has a Board of Directors who are dedicated to not only improving the quality of life for the Maya living in Guatemala, but also dedicated to igniting the faith of men, women, and youth through a short term mission experience.
A little bit about Sending Out Servants (SOS)
SOS was founded in 1998 by Father Tom Ponzini, Ernest and Connie Braren. From its inception, SOS's vision was to be an instrument through which the Holy Spirit can call men, women, and youth from ALL parishes in the Archdiocese of Houston/Galveston in Texas to put their faith into action through a meaningful cultural exchange and sharing experiences of faith with the Mayan people.
Since our initial visit to Quiché in 1998 with Bishop Julio Cabrera and Father Héctor from the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Parish, SOS has had the unique role of being the conduit through which more than 65 missionary trips to Quiché have been carried out.
It is important to note some unique things about SOS:
Most of our missionaries belong to different parishes in our Archdiocese. This is how SOS makes its call to encourage other parishes to join the Mission. To date, more than 1,000 individuals from the United States have had a missionary experience with SOS, representing over 25 diverse parishes. More than half of missioners are members who repeat the experience.
SOS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that sends missionaries with the authorization of our Archbishop, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and the Bishop of Quiché Monsignor Rosolino. This gives stability to the SOS mission objectives and mission commissions.
SOS’s focus is on promoting encounters with the Mayans and letting the Holy Spirit uses us as a conduit for his Divine agenda. However, with the help of our generous donors, SOS sometimes helps the economic needs of our Mayan brothers and sisters where we can. (ex. smokeless stoves construction, establishment of the SOS Guardian Angel Education Fund (GAEF), and Pandemic Food Relief)
In 2012 we heard the request of the Fr. Tom Newton, Pastor of Christ Our Light Parish, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who had accompanied us on a mission to Quiché. He was interested in starting a new relationship directly with the Parish of Chinique. In June 2012 and 2013, SOS accompanied a group of 23 missionaries from Christ Our Light on a visit to La Puerta and initiate their partnership with the Parish of La Puerta.
Also, in 2012 we received the support and authorization of the Fr. Norbert Maduzia, Pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in Spring, Texas, for their first missionary visits to the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe School in Chiché. Through this relationship, St. Ignatius has annually sent parishioners to visit the “Litte School” and raises funds to pay all of the teachers' salaries.
When we began our visits to Quiché, Bishop Julio Cabrera told us: “Previous missionaries…have done for the Mayas what they would have done for themselves. They have made my people greedy with their gifts, which have only weakened them and made them more dependent. These missionaries promised to return, but they did not fulfill their mission. Thus they hurt even more my already injured people." We promised Bishop Cabrera that we would not abandon his people and that any financial aid would be channeled through established local institutions.
SOS builds relationships of mutual respect that cannot be based on the distribution of financial or material resources.
Anyone that travels on our missions does not have money or things to give, only love and desire to know each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.
Any community we enter must trust that we arrived as servants and our intention is to participate in the culture and life of our Mayan brothers and sisters, mutually grow in understanding and solidarity to consolidate the Kingdom of God.
Over the past 20+ years SOS has developed beautiful processes to enable the relationships with our Mayan brothers and sisters, where the focus will be on "presence" not "presents (gifts)." Our goal is to enable people from both America and Guatemala to display a cultural humility, recognizing that each have something to give and something to receive.
