Kathleen Osberger, a lay missionary who taught at a Maryknoll school in Chile at the height of the Augosto Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s, told “Practicing Catholic” producer Kayla Mayer that people who feel called to mission should “go for it and explore.”
“There are many organizations that have lay missioners,” Osberger said for the show debuting at 9 p.m. Oct. 20 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. “I would say go for it because if you go and spend a few years, first of all, you’re going to learn another culture.
“You’re going experience opportunities that (otherwise) you would never have, to share your life with others and to be welcomed into other people’s homes,” she said. “And you can reciprocate. It’s a very rich experience.”
Osberger spoke with Mayer at the approach of World Mission Sunday Oct. 21 and Oct. 22.
Osberger said she lived with three School Sisters of Notre Dame in Chile and quickly learned they helped hide people who were sought by Pinochet’s secret police. The first day she arrived, one of the religious sisters in a quivering voice told her about their efforts.
“And she said to me, ‘well, the others asked me not to tell you about this, but I need for you to know that sometimes we hide people who are being sought by the secret police, here in our house. They’re people who are in danger and their lives are being threatened,’” Osberger said.
Osberger said she took a deep breath and told the religious sister that she had come to Chile to learn. She also wanted to understand the motivation of the sisters and lay women who were sheltering people under dangerous circumstances.
Osberger, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist in Chicago whose work has centered on the issues of trauma and torture, has written a book about her missionary experience titled “I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile’s Dictatorship, 1975,” published by Orbis Books. She was in St. Paul to talk about her book at Carondelet Village, a senior living center that is a shared ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Presbyterian Homes and Services.
During the interview with Mayer, Osberger talks about some of the harrowing experiences detailed in her book that she and other people had under the Pinochet regime. To hear more, tune in to “Practicing Catholic,” which also repeats at 1 p.m. Oct. 21 and 2 p.m. Oct. 22.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Cathy Blaeser from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, who describes pro-life efforts in Minnesota and the “Save the 12,000” campaign; and Ron Snyder, president of the Newman Association of America, who discusses St. John Henry Newman.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
