CEM POC Summer Newsletter August 2026

Saving Eagles

Have you ever seen a Bald Eagle?? Some of you may know that professionally, I’m a veterinarian who worked for years in biomedical research. My interest in this non-traditional field of vet medicine started in my undergraduate years when I worked at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in MD. I worked as a co-op student working there to pay for college because, although my parents supported me 100%, they were not financially able to pay for college. Through this work I was not only able to make money but I also got concrete experience in animal work that I used for my application to vet school.

While there I worked in a department that was invested in recovering endangered species of birds, including the bald eagle. The bald eagle was on the verge of extinction because of a buildup of toxins in the environment that were concentrating in the birds. ALL birds were affected but they focused on the Eagles that were most affected because they were at the top of the food chain and had consumed more of the poison through the animals that had eaten. This process is called Biomagnification. To address the problem, they didn’t focus on all of the affected birds but they targeted the most affected bird, the eagle. By helping the one that was almost extinct, they actually improved conditions for all birds impacted. In the end, thanks to the concrete conservation efforts of this center, the Bald Eagle, our national symbol of greatness, rebounded and is seen everywhere again. They, and many other birds like them, are thankfully no longer endangered.

Now you may be wondering, what does this science lesson about eagles have to do with the work of the CEM POC Grant? People often question why this grant would be necessary and I use my experience with the Eagles to give them an appreciation for the need. In the Church of the USA, ethnic minorities tend to be underrepresented in Catholic Evangelization ministries. They are, in a sense, endangered. Like the bald eagle, their presence is vital to the witness of a Church that claims to be Catholic, a term that encompasses believers from every race and ethnicity. The reasons why they are underrepresented are varied but ONE of the most frequently mentioned causes is the difficulty they encounter when raising the funds for their salaries. Without a doubt, this difficulty impacts ALL missionaries but it impacts minorities more often and more significantly. When we focus on this “endangered” segment of the Church, we actually help the entire Church to reach more people. We allow her to more faithfully reflect her availability to all people.

Someday, we hope that the presence of ethnic minorities in the Church will reflect the population at large here in the USA. Like the Bald Eagle, we hope that ethnic minorities will no longer be an underrepresented “species” in organizations like FOCUS, SPO or Vagabond Missions. Eventually, we hope to work ourselves out of a job. In a similar way, the Center where I worked with endangered species of birds is preparing to close its doors because they have essentially worked themselves out of a job with their success in recovering the Bald Eagle and other valuable endangered animals. Let us pray that one day, the barriers that impact the presence of minorities in the service of the Church will be so insignificant that we will no longer need the CEM POC grant!! I suspect that it may not happen in my lifetime but I pray that it occurs soon. The CEM POC grant is just one tool among many that God is using to bring healing and hope to all of those who love the Church and long to see it grow.

Heroes of the Faith

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: Rom 1:16

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Mt 28:19

The Faces of Courageous Faith

For those who have never served in a ministry, I’d like to take a moment now to give you a little glimpse into the world of the missionaries that we support. The classic image that people have when they think of a missionary is someone who is sent by the Church to a foreign land where they work to serve the Church in its work of loving the world through the corporal works of mercy. We often think of hospitals for the needy, orphanages for the abandoned and schools for those who struggle to get an education. We think of people like Mother Theresa of Calcutta and her sisters.

These are all beautiful images of missionary work but it is incomplete. Loving and caring for people is crucial but it’s insufficient if Jesus, the ultimate source of love, is not mentioned. Without Jesus, the work becomes little more than “spiritualized” social work. The Church’s seminal document on Missionary Activity Ad Gentes declares, “"Missions" is the term usually given to those particular undertakings by which the heralds of the Gospel, sent out by the Church and going forth into the whole world, carry out the task of preaching the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ. …The chief means of the planting referred to is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “

The missionaries supported by the CEM POC grant are missionaries of evangelization. They complement the corporal works of mercy with the spiritual works of mercy. They share the hope of heaven and invite people into a deeper relationship with Jesus. By stepping out of the Church and into secular spaces on college campuses or inner-city neighborhoods, they meet and talk to people about the love of Christ and the mercy offered to them in the Church through faith. The world is filled with people who are hurting, lonely, lost and trapped in any number of unhealthy behaviors. Through their faithful witness, they invite people out of darkness and into light.

Every year, the number of applicants for the CEM POC grant grows. We help the ones we can but the need is great. This year we had to choose from a pool of 33 applicants. This was NOT easy especially since each of them were facing unique challenges in their desire to serve the Church. So in this newsletter I’m sharing with you the faces of all of the applicants that we had to review. Only 6 received grants. Please pray for all of those who did not get a grant and, if you’re able, please connect us to other faith filled people who might be able to support this effort and help us to help more of these good people in the year to come.

Spotlight on a Board Member Ali Mumbach

Ali is one of the youngest and more passionate members of the CEM POC Board. She grew up in Houston, Texas and attended Texas State University where she got her undergraduate degree in applied sociology. Following graduation, Ali spent the next two years working as a missionary with Saint Paul’s Outreach (SPO). Ali felt called to mission because she knew both the goodness of an intimate relationship with the Lord, but also the loneliness of being the only African American in Christian communities. She wanted mitigate some of that loneliness. Serving at Seton Hall University in N J., Ali worked to welcome ethnically diverse students into the community and the Church. She served during the tumultuous year after the killing of George Floyd and engaged in many conversations about race with students, teammates, and others helping to provide perspective from someone who was a faithful Christian and a minority.

After serving with SPO, Ali served as campus minister at Howard University (an HBCU) for 3 years while getting her master’s degree in Sociology. She now works doing research for The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) Ali is passionate about the CEM POC Grant because she faced the challenges of raising her own support while at SPO and experienced first-hand the challenges that our applicants face. She had to contend with the lack of access to lucrative social contacts and the generational wealth needed to generate her salary. She’s committed to helping POC missionaries serve the Church by reducing some of the financial burden of their fundraising efforts.

One of her favorite scriptures: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future, things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Amen! Romans 8:38-39 Another favorite quote is taken from The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien: "Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till."