It might seem unusual for the residents of the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn to see French missionaries walking their streets each afternoon reciting the rosary together. For Catholics, it may seem unusual that a Catholic volunteer organization encompasses nearly the full spectrum of vocations to the Church.

Heart’s Home, started in 1990 by Father Thierry de Roucy, is a Catholic volunteer organization that serves the poor and suffering in the world by letting these people know someone cares about them. Volunteers visit the poor, the sick, the terminally ill and the incarcerated.

The French priest found that after a few years, some of the volunteers wanted to continue in Heart’s Home through a lifelong commitment. Father de Roucy founded the Servants of God’s Presence, an order of religious sisters within the Heart’s Home organization, now with 30 nuns around the world. The Sacerdotal Fraternity of Molokai for the priesthood was founded in 1995 and currently has 28 priests and seminarians.

A fraternity of permanent members was founded for men and women who wanted to pursue the lay consecrated vocation, and in 1997, at the request of former Heart’s Home volunteers, the Fraternity of Maximilian Kolbe was founded to maintain the spirit of their mission in their daily lives and responsibilities in the professional world, With such a growth of different vocations, the volunteer organization became an ecclesiastic movement.

While religious vocations are commonplace in Heart’s Home, what has been most prevalent is the vocation of lay volunteer. Heart’s Home has 35 missions in 20 different countries, in places such as Peru, Senegal, Brazil, Thailand, Italy, Romania, Argentina, Germany and El Salvador. Since 1990, the France-based organization has trained 1,200 volunteers. Community life is sustained by daily Mass and daily rosary. Father de Roucy said that while praying the rosary he received the call to found a “work of compassion and consolation” to send young people on missionary work abroad for a year or two. Heart’s Home requires a commitment of at least 14 months.

Its only mission in the U.S. was opened in 2003 in the South Bronx to minister to Spanish-speaking people in the Highbridge neighborhood.

“Many people couldn’t believe it when they came,” said Lourdes Renero Alvarez, a Highbridge resident. “Here were young French people who left their careers behind to serve poor Hispanics in the South Bronx, becoming part of their family and becoming their friends.” The group spent five years there, until relocating to Brooklyn in 2008.

Now their community consists of three nuns, a recently ordained transitional deacon, two lay consecrated women, a lay consecrated man and three volunteers. The only non-French citizen in the group is Sister Mariana Canteros, who met Heart’s Home in her native Argentina. She served as a volunteer in Brazil for two years and later joined their order of nuns. Similarly, the two other nuns, Sister Regine Fohrer and Sister Blandine Paponaud, also were Heart’s Home volunteers prior to joining the Servants of God’s Presence.

Sister Blandine, who graduated with a degree in statistics and computer science, served as a Heart’s Home missionary in Honduras.

“The majority of Heart’s Home volunteers do not become priest, religious or consecrated after their mission,” she said. “But I made a real experience of unconditional love in the community. This experience of God’s love is what gave me the desire to go on this mission of love and compassion. To give in my turn what I had received and in the same way that I had received.”

According to the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, there are an estimated 150 consecrated virgins in the United States. France has the highest number of consecrated versions with more than 600 while there are an estimated 3,000 consecrated virgins worldwide. The male lay consecrated vocation is not too common throughout the world, despite being commonplace in Heart’s Home. The three lay consecrated members of the Heart’s Home community in Brooklyn were all previous volunteers within the organization.

Sylvie Muller served as a volunteer in Argentina and is aware that many Catholics, especially in the U.S., do not know enough about the lay consecrated vocation. “Lay consecrated people are not as visible: they just try to live their baptism, without any signs such as the sisters with their habits.” She said they show their vocation through their life testimony, example and friendship. “It is the way for the Church to reach all those who will not come to Her, to provide witness of God to many.”

While it is most interesting that a Catholic volunteer organization encompasses an order of nuns, a fraternity of priests, a thriving fraternity of lay consecrated, a fraternity for former volunteers who returned to the working world, Heart’s Home’s primary vocation is that of a lay volunteer. Currently there are 200 volunteers among their 35 missions worldwide, with the last year seeing the highest ever number of American and Canadian volunteers. Amy Koreski of Spokane graduated from Gonzaga University in 2007 and recently returned from 14 months as a Heart’s Home volunteer in Honduras. “I have met nuns and consecrated people in Heart’s Home but it is important to not forget that the vocation of being a lay volunteer is the most common one,” she said. “Of course Heart’s Home is not very well known in the U.S., but I think the fact that they accept volunteers at any time during the year is very helpful to many people. For me, my work among the poor and suffering was greatly complimented by daily adoration, daily Mass and daily rosary, and community life.”

Find out more

Go to heartshomeusa.org or call 1-718-522-2121

Sanchez writes from Westerly, R.I.