Mission Work Rewarding To Newtown Man

By Nancy K. Crevier

Kevin Donovan, III, of Newtown has found in mission work rewards far different than any he receives as a real estate agent for Advanced Real Estate Company. Mr Donovan has recently returned from Jamaica, working with the diocese of Montego Bay in providing spiritual renewal and teachings through his music ministry to remote communities there.

Mr Donovan’s experience in the country of Jamaica and with the people of that region made him the natural choice this December to lead and collate a mission team made up of 20 people from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. This mission to Jamaica was not his first, nor even his second, to the area. As a student at Franciscan University studying for his master’s in counseling, he became involved with mission work five years ago, traveling to many foreign countries, including Thailand, China, and Honduras, as well as Jamaica.

His first visit to Jamaica was with a team responding to a request from the bishop of Montego Bay. The bishop felt that it would be beneficial to the different needy Catholic communities in his diocese to receive the inspiration that the university students could supply.

“The mission diocese in Jamaica is very low on resources,” Mr Donovan explains. A mission group, such as the one with which he traveled, can supplement personnel and activities that the tiny parishes are unable to provide on their own. Mr Donovan’s special contribution when he is on a mission trip is his love of music. A guitarist, he teaches songs to the young people and accompanies the parishioners in praise and worship music. Devotion through music is an easy way to help people connect with a higher power, he finds, and creates a sense of community.

Following his 2001 trip to Jamaica, the bishop asked Mr Donovan to return to lead the music ministry for the diocese. For two years, he lived and worked with the people of seven parishes.

“We start by focusing on youth,” he says. “There is not a lot of hope in this region. Music brings the youth together and they play in church and build community in the churches there. Often we see adults return to the church because of the kids.”

In the past, the mission team has lived with families, but this past year they were put up in an old rectory together. “We share with the people there, though,” he says. “During the day we walk through the town and visit with people. You share what you have, and they share what they have.”

Mr Donovan marvels at the example of the Jamaicans who have so much less than the average American. “It is not just ‘things’ they lack. They have obstacles in life, but their faith helps them to persevere.”

There is a transformation in the college students with whom he travels that Mr Donovan delights in seeing. For many of them, he says, what they encounter in Jamaica is their first encounter with what are close to third world conditions. Bucket showers, families living in tin-roofed homes made of planks, and a fierce competition for what few resources there are, can be eye-opening for first-time visitors.

“When [the students] see the different way of living, I love to see them grow and develop in their own calling in life,” he says.

It may have been his upbringing in a family conscious of the needs of those less well off than they that has contributed to his dedication to mission work, Mr Donovan says. As a child in Mexico, where he lived until the age of 10, he recalls helping his parents, Queta and Kevin Donovan, assist in the parishes there. “I was just a little kid myself,” he laughs, “helping other, even littler kids learn the sign of the cross and stuff like that.”

He feels, for whatever reason, compelled to pass on his good will. “I feel that I’ve been given a lot, and so I want to give. I enjoy the travel and the adventure. I like reaching out and participating with other people.”

He has learned that there is joy in everyone, regardless of his or her situation. It is an attitude he sees lacking in privileged countries. His observation of the people he has met in Jamaica is that “when there is so much hardship, you have to rejoice in the moment.”

Although he is back in the saddle at the realty company for now, Mr Donovan is looking forward to his next mission. “I will be going to Honduras in March for a week, again coordinating and leading a music ministry. And hopefully, I will also be able to go to Brazil this year.”