If you answered YES to these questions, then your heart has found its home!
Some possibilities are available for young couples for up to two years in one of the countryside villages run by our local partners.
We use a process of mutual discernment with rolling applications to determine if a mission with Con-solatio is a good fit for you.
Participate in a 2-hour virtual ‘information and testimonial’ session with former volunteers
Complete the application to become a missionary volunteer
Join us for a Come and See on-site discernment weekend
A mission with Con-solatio is not only a time of service, but of spiritual, human, and personal growth.
Time on mission is filled with experiences that educate, challenge, and contribute to a volunteer’s human formation. We provide the following training and resources to support you during this time:
Our staff will walk with you throughout the administrative and fundraising period. You are asked to find two kinds of supporters.
Supporters are invited to donate towards your daily costs on mission ($600 a month to fully cover your room and board, health insurance and all living expenses) as well as your training and travel expenses ($3,530)
Contributions can be in the form of monthly, quarterly or one-time donations.
Con-solatio is a 501(c)3 charity organization so donations are 100% tax-deductible.
Supporters are invited to pray a decade of the rosary each day of the volunteer’s mission.
This support is just as important, if not more so, than financial contributions.
We ask our volunteers for their preferences, which we take into consideration when placing them with their mission country. Your destination is decided by Con-solatio staff according to your personality, skills, and health conditions, as well as the available needs and openings in different houses around the world.
A day in a Con-solatio home always begins with prayer, which is the heartbeat of our day. Following Morning Prayer, we walk to our neighborhood parish for daily Mass. We then share a simple breakfast, prepared by the missionary in charge of the kitchen for the day. We also take time for personal Lectio Divina, and an hour of Eucharistic Adoration in our chapel. Any additional morning time is dedicated to anything that needs to be done around the house – chores, organizing activities, going to the local market, cooking, studying the language, and, of course, warmly welcoming those who show up at our door!
In the afternoon, we open our doors wide and pray the Rosary with whoever comes to join us. One of the missionaries will usually stay in the house to play with the children for the duration of the afternoon, offering them something precious – a loving, nurturing, peaceful environment where they can be kids. Meanwhile, the rest of us head out in pairs to encounter and befriend people in the neighborhood, paying special attention to those we know are most suffering and in need of friendship.
Our days are simple, and much of what we do is small, but day in and day out we are there; to mend a torn school uniform, to receive the cries of a struggling single mother, to encourage an alcoholic rejected by his family, to hold a crying child, to play soccer with the young boys getting lost in the dangers of street life. We also go out from our immediate neighborhood to offer our presence in places such as shelters, jails, orphanages, and garbage dumps.
At the end of the afternoon, we all meet back at the house to pray Evening Prayer (Vespers), and offer to the Lord all those we encountered during the day. After eating dinner together as a community, we close our day with night prayer. It’s a contemplation that reveals to us the meaning of each event, the beauty of each face, the dignity of each person.
That being said, since we always ask the Holy Spirit to guide our mission, a day in our homes is often full of events that are not planned. The unexpected is welcomed in peace and our schedule can change at any time according to the needs of our friends and neighbors. We might take a child to the hospital because of an accident, spend time in the street with a homeless person in great need of a human presence, accept an invitation to dinner, or intervene in a tragic event happening in the neighborhood. We lead a simple and humble life, like Mary, Joseph, and Jesus did at Nazareth.
Volunteers usually serve for 14 months, 18 months, or 2 years. If you commit to a 14 or 18 month mission and want to stay longer, you, your advisor, and US staff may agree on an extension, for a maximum of 2 years. If you are taking a gap year from college, it is also possible to volunteer for a year.
One day of every week is set aside as a “day of rest.” It’s important to understand that this day is not a day off from your commitment. Resting is an integral part of our mission and enables us to serve our community better and to renew our strength and inner peace.
You are encouraged to host your closest family members (parents, brothers, and sisters) for one visit (maximum length: two weeks) during your time on mission. During their visit, our volunteers can travel to visit other parts of their mission country.
You are invited and encouraged to give regular news to your family and friends, but also to enter into a new lifestyle, where our time and resources do not belong to us, but to the Lord and His mission. In most cases you will be able to access the Internet via cyber cafes, or at the home of friends who welcome us on our rest day. A commitment with Con-solatio requires less use of phones as well as TV or video games, which all our volunteers describe as a freeing experience.
Your parents will be given the phone numbers of contact persons in your country of mission, as well as our contact in Brooklyn, to use in case of need.
We do not ask you to be fluent but we do request that you do your best to learn the language of your mission country as soon as your destination is communicated to you. The more you know the language, the easier it will be for you to adapt to your new environment, to avoid feeling isolated or homesick, and to serve those around you.
Note that in some countries where the language is particularly difficult to learn (especially in Asia), you will be given classes with a tutor during the first couple months in your country of mission.
While you will share in the responsibilities entrusted to you with the other members of the community, you are not alone in carrying out your ministry. Each house has a “watchman/watchwoman” who helps lead the community meetings and moderate the different activities.
The program also provides the services of an advisor to serve as a mentor. The community’s advisor will offer insight into the mission and provide guidance for the community and its members. The advisor is available throughout the mission to help with orientation, advice, and support, accompanying the community through regular email and phone calls. Additionally, the advisor will visit the mission home twice a year.
Supporters are invited to donate towards your daily costs on mission ($600 a month to fully cover your room and board, health insurance and all living expenses) as well as your training and travel expenses ($3,530).
You can make a request for a loan deferment or forbearance at your lending institution. We will provide you with the materials to show that Con-solatio meets the requirements to qualify for a tax-exempt Organization Volunteer Deferment
Part of your financial support will go to help Con-solatio provide you with a very comprehensive medical insurance. If medical treatment is needed, volunteers are placed in one of the best hospitals in the city where their mission home is located, so as to receive the best possible treatment.
In addition, Con-solatio has a contract with Mondial Assistance, which provides medical evacuation in case of emergency. This evacuation plan covers 100% of the charges, no matter where you are in the world. Medical evacuation is decided by a mutual agreement between the local doctor and the Mondial Assistance representative.
