CLAA Missions

In Church history, evangelization didn’t consist of encouraging people to believe something new while they continued doing something old.  It was an invitation to start a new life as a member of the Christian community, seeking first the kingdom of heaven in a loving and joyful community.  

Normally, our lives cannot simply be “fixed”.  As with old buildings, it is often necessary to demolish the old building and start the new building from the ground up.  God has taught us that “Bad company corrupts good morals”, and that often means that to renew one’s life one must be able to depart from bad company and grow in good company.  We can help individuals and families do that.

If you know someone who would like to start a new life in Christ, but is prevented from doing so by difficult circumstances, please have them contact us.  The CLAA Missions community welcomes men, woman and families who would like to start new lives in a Christian environment.  Here, we can obey the command of St. Paul to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and get started as new creatures.  Learn to live a simple, holy and good life while studying God’s word, sharing in the work of the community and helping others do the same.  We may not be the wealthiest, smartest or more beautiful people on earth, but Christ does not see men as other men see us–He is pleased with humble hearts and holy desires. 

If you like to learn more about the CLAA Missions community contact us at: mail@classicalliberalarts.com or by calling 1-800-318-0261.  Support from fellow Christians is greatly appreciated

God bless,
William Michael 

Dear friends,

From here in Monroe, NC, the Missionaries of the Poor ship containers of supplies to their missions overseas.  We assist the MOPs in gathering and preparing supplies for these containers and delivering them when shipments are prepared.  Please read the following letter to learn how you can help.  If you can’t read the image of the support request, click here to read the letter in PDF format.

If you would like to help us answer  this request, please send your contributions to:

CLAA Missions
1621 Stack Road
Monroe, NC 28112
Attn:  MOP Collections

Opportunities also exist for you to visit and help the MOP here on the ground.  Contact us for more info.

Thank you ,
Bill & Dania Michael

Because of the unexpected growth of our distance learning program in the U.S. and overseas, three new babies in three years, and the purchase and development of a 45 acre CLAA property in North Carolina to be used for the CLAA’s boarding school and charity work, we have been unable to attend to our missions work overseas.  However, in 2012, that time off will come to an end.   CLAA Missions will soon be  established as a non-profitable organization and we will be getting back to work overseas among the poorest of the poor.

We have already received invitations from the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica, India and Kenya and will be getting to work.   I will be arranging another visit for CLAA fathers shortly.  More information will be available soon.

Please pray for our work and thank you for your past support,
William Michael

All the men have arrived safely home from Jamaica and are settling back into the everyday here in the US.  Personally I feel like I’m away from home when I’m in the US after being spiritually spoiled in Jamaica.  We will not be posting for some time so that everyone can settle down and get their “Honey-Do” lists completed. 

Thank you all for following the posts and commenting.

God bless you!

W. Michael

Hello all,

I came back to major snow storms, electricity outages, ice, grumpy people and very grim revenues from our store that has been closed due to weather these past few days. In ordinary times, this is what I would call “stressful”. But after these beautiful days spent in the company of those wonderful brothers and wonderful CLAA dads, it is easy to find solace and refuge by mentally transporting oneself in one of those centers or even imaging oneself during Eucharistic Adoration at the Sacred Heart chapel surrounded by the energy of the brothers and the sound of Carribean hymns. Ad majorem Dei gloriam. Benoit

It was another ideal day in beautiful Jamaica and those of us still here, Chad,Donnie,Jimmie, Andy,Benoit and Mike were ready to take Jamaica by storm!  So we stormed off to Corpus Christi to meet several huge piles of rusty beams that we still needed to help treat(sand and paint). At CC there were 10 workers from that rowdy New Jersey/Atlanta group of 30 and they were having so much fun sanding and painting that we could not help but join the festivities and WORK,WORK,WORK!  We started at 9:00 and several of the crew Chad,Donnie and Jimmie headed to Holy Innocents to rest in the shade and drink pina coladas while the rest of us slaved away in the hot sun and somehow, miraculously finished the last 25 beams. A small footnote we envisioned they were not working as hard as we were BUT we were wrong! They worked those poor boys half to death…Relax wives…they lived!  We got the call around 2:00 that they needed the beams at HI now and so we began the process of loading and transporting all the structural beams to the Holy Innocents center. The only real problem was these structural beams were the heaviest of them all at approximately 1400 lbs apiece and 40 feet long. This may not have posed such a difficulty if the trucks weren’t just 20 ft long…We persevered and Our blessed Mother (that’s Mary for our noncatholic readers) sent many of the angels that behold the Mother of God to assist us…and praise God we were successful! All the necessary support beams were deliverd to Holy Innocents center and the crew from NJ/ATL headed back to their hotel. We however were the Fellowship of the FFFF (Fathers of Faith Formation for our Families) so we went back to the Holy Innocents to assist in getting it done! We knocked off around 6:30 and limped home battered but not broken as we rejoiced in all that God had allowed us to participate in…Benoit did a run in with a 2×4…where he accidentally stuck his head in front of it. He did not do much damage to the board and we were still able to use the board later.(much to our relief!) Oh and we were relieved to see Benoit was okay…we couldn’t bear to lose our best worker! That night we had a wonderful feast of grilled whole red snapper with a brown gravy! If you could look that fish in the eye…you were in for a treat! It was a sad night as we said our goodbyes to 3 of our crew and settled in for a sound nights sleep! (5:30 comes early!) God bless you all and especially my lovely children and the most beautiful woman in the world,Tracy!  Mike

It has really been an eye opener on many levels. I will post longer messages after my return (tomorrow) to the US. For the time being, I am trying to keep up with all the pictures that have been taken by all of us. There is so much we would like to convey to so many of you that we cannot take enough of them. We hope and pray that your hearts will be as blessed as ours have been and continue to be in the presence of the MOP brothers and the people they minister to. Ad majorem Dei gloriam. Benoit

Sunday was the dessert for a week of work and sharing…It was an amazing day as we had a communal mass at the Bethlehem House.  it was so beautiful to share mass with so many of the youth and adults that we had been with for the last week. All of our friends from the centers were dressed in their Sunday finest and most of the kids that were unable to function on their own were carried over by the Brothers and us. The neighbors came in by the droves and the church was packed! What a lively and lovely mass it was and everyone was beaming from the joy proclaimed and Our Lord joining us together as a true community. We finished mass and headed back for our trip to the mountaintop, Mount Tabor. It took about 50 minutes to drive to Mt Tabor and Br Vincent thrilled us with tales of the heroic virtue that had led to the building of Mt Tabor.  The MOPS had been given this piece of land by a generous benefactor.  There were a few small problems, you could not reach the mountaintop as there were no roads, it was dense jungle terrain and it was a mountain top so you could not build on it. Fr Ho Lung saw these as opportunities to grow in virtue and the Brothers immediately embraced his vision.  One year later the Brothers had built a road up the side of the mountain (at least 2-3 miles long with a brick wall built into the mountain to hold back the earth that would come landsliding down when hurricanes would hit. At some points this wall was 15 feet high!  This was impressive but really nothing at all compared to the Center for disabled boys,The beautiful chapel and the retreat house that they had built. ALL THIS IN ONE YEAR?

Just a reminder that photos from our trip are available at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/turpinb/JamaicaCLAAFebruary09MissionariesOfThePoor#

God bless you all!

W. Michael

Benoit Turpin (NY) helps with the preparation of the steel beams being used for the Holy Innocents center.

In America, the “Pro-Life” movement complains about the existing legality of abortion.  In Jamaica, things are different.  Abortion is not yet legal there…but it soon will be.  To keep abortion out of Jamaica, the Missionaries of the Poor are volunteering to care for the mothers and babies who are considering abortion.  They are building a 200-resident care center called the “Holy Innocents’ Center”.  This will be a ministry that makes almost every reason for abortion unnecessary. 

The CLAA fathers had the privilege of helping with the construction of this facility.  A group of 30 volunteers came from Georgia and New Jersey to get the giant support beams in place for the construction.  Our men were able to help prepare and move the beams during the crew’s visit.  How exciting to think that when we see this ministry flourishing in years to come, we can look back and say, “We had a part in buliding that ministry!”.

After 3 days of loving the people who seemed most in need of love, and receiving much more than we gave. The men were tasked with a new challenge on Saturday.  We were sent to Corpus Christi to help a huge crew (30!!!) from Atlanta & New Jersey that needed a little help with rebuilding a dilapidated building. This new center, The Holy Innocents, will house up to 200 women who are pregnant and considering abortion. We were excited to be part of such a crucial misssion, but when we arrived at CC we found large stacks of huge metal beams that were rusting away in the tropical weather. We were instructed by the crew of 8 that were in charge of steel erection, for the frame of the building, to help move and sort the steal beams. All 16 of us began working together piece by piece to lay out the beams for sanding and painting.  it took several hours to move the beams to working stations where they could be prepared for installation.  At that point our friends with experience in steel work left to move the beams they had prepared the previous 2 days to The Holy Innocents Center.  We began sanding one of the different stacks of steel by hand with wire brushes in preparation for painting. About 2:00 the brothers asked Maurice, Benoit and myself to come to the HIC to help the others begin to erect the beams they had transported.  When we arrived they were delighted to see some help, so we quickly got to work. Benoit and I prepped the massive bolts that had been set into the concrete floor 2 days previous while the gentle giant, Maurice began to assist in placing all the 20 ft tall steel beams in place to be erected by placing them in an upright position on the bolts protruding from the concrete. When everything was prepared, they began setting the beams while Benoit and I finished up the last 2 positions for the beams to be erected. These beams weighed at least 800 lbs apiece, so arranging and erecting them was easier said than done.  When Dennis,the owner of a steel erecting company and Tommy, who worked with him, had everything in place we began to set the posts. All 12 were set within 1 1/2 hrs and then they began leveling them. That was more complicated than setting the posts but these guys were good and we got it done in 30 minutes.  I began helping Pat, who has worked in steel for 30+ years in leveling the beams on the other side of the building with Maurice, while Benoit helped the carpenter crew from NJ repair walls that had been broken down on the inside fo this building. After we had been working at leveling this beam on the opposite wall Maurice noticed the giant steel workers were in need of his big muscles, and so he quickly went to assist. (as he has at every opportunity this week) Pat and I finally got the main support beam and went to help the absolutely crazy steel workers hoist 800+ lb beams 20 ft in the air and affix them between the standing support beams.(that we had recently set) Every beam was an opportunity for sheer disaster, but these amazing men never thought twice but hoisted them one after another (luckily for them they had Maurice, with his big guns helpng!)  They had them all in place within a few hours and we began cleanup work.  We rolled out around 6:30 (most work days end at 3:30 or 4:00) and returned to Corpus Christi to pick up the others. They had sanded and painted 5 of the largest beams (which saved the brothers weeks of work!) and when the brothers returned for us they were effusive in their thanks for all our hard work. We are more than a little humbled by their appreciation for a days hard work when they have given their lives to hard work everyday!  Dinner and rest never felt so good! May god bless and keep you all,  mike

 First lets clear things up…I was not giving that resident a squiggley octopus tattoo…It was a very happy sun that the resident requested!  He was happy and so was I…Yesterday’s trip to Good Shepherd center was an opportunity to really come to the realization that every man is a conduit of grace. Each of these men so wounded and needy has so many needs and desires…When we step  up and feed these hungry men, though it is sometimes a great sacrifice to help those who cannot help themselves, we feel the graces that flow… At the center we met many fascinating men, like Keith Ferguson, an 88 yr old fisherman with one leg. He regled me with tales of fishing exploits,like catching a 150 lb kingfish on a fishing rod in his 12 ft boat. (I think it pulled him halfway to America before he reeled it in.) Or Trevor, the semiretarded man with a faith that can move mountains!  He preached the Truth of Jesus and how he died for my sins…The saddest part of the day was Andrew, a 22 yr old man who was paralyzed in a gunfight that left him crippled from the chest down. His misfortune did not wound me, but his resistance to the love that God has for him was just not something he wanted to embrace or believe…Pray for our friend…It’s late and old guys don’t do late very well…so God bless all my 8 beautiful children and I will see you in a week.   mikeh

On Sunday, the CLAA fathers will have a blessed day of worship and rest after a week of hard work and service. 

We will be attending morning Mass at Bethlehem Chapel and then heading up to the mountaintop for a quiet day and fellowship and prayer.  I am sure you will hear more about these two visits on Sunday than you’ve heard about anything so far, so stay tuned.

As for me, I’ve been teaching the brothers each day and working on the formation program back at the monastery.  Some exciting news is that the MOPs have agreed to participate in the CLAA’s annual family conferences!  That will be fantastic..raises things to a whole new level.  We’ve also been given a new challenge from the MOPs that I will be making known shortly.  Thank the Lord for the opportunities He is giving us to serve Him.  It is not common what we’re doing here and I’m aware of what a privilige we have, as well as afraid of the consequences:  “To whom much is given, much is expected.”  I want the Lord to know know He can give me/us gifts and opportunities and He’ll receive them back with a hundredfold increase.  Too exciting.

W. Michael