The Lay Mission-Helpers (LMH) Association and Mission Doctors Association (MDA) are currently accepting applications for the 2009 formation program for lay men, lay women, couples and families called to share their skills and live their faith for three years in a mission diocese. The application deadline has been extended to Aug. 1.

The oldest lay mission sending organizations in the United States, founded in 1955 and 1959, LMH and MDA offer opportunities for Catholic lay persons to live and work in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific. Bishops from Cameroon, Guatemala, Ecuador, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Sierra Leone, Peru, Tanzania and Uganda are currently requesting additional help from LMH and MDA.

The next formation program begins in January 2009, and openings are still available. To prepare the individuals who have been accepted into the programs, LMH and MDA provide candidates with a four-month residential formation program in Los Angeles. There are classes in theology, Scripture and adult development; and workshops on mission, social analysis, communication skills, mission spirituality, skills for cross-cultural living, relationships, intimacy and sexuality overseas, mission in the context of social change and violence, and moral issues. There are also weekly area studies, daily prayer and community life.

More information and applications can be found on the organizations' web sites: http://www.LayMissionHelpers.org, and http://www.MissionDoctors.org.