Even after tragedy, missionaries fight fear with faith
By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer
APPLETON — For Southern Baptist missionary and frequent Fox Valley church guest speaker Kathleen Gariety, the Yemeni people were her life.
In a country where faith-based conversations between Muslims and Christians can be illegal, Gariety, a Milwaukee native, learned Arabic.
On Monday, Gariety and two other medical missionaries were killed by a gunman who fired into a meeting room of the Yemeni Baptist hospital in Jibla, where Gariety, 53, had worked as a supply manager.
Fox Valley area Christians with overseas missions experience say violence is a real, though somewhat rare, possibility.
“She realized there was danger there, but it really was never in the forefront of her mind, said the Rev. Larry Creamer of Appleton’s Valley Baptist Church, a congregation that saw Gariety speak in person. “She was focused on why she was there, which was trying to make the world a better place.”
Glen Land, a former pastor at Valley Baptist, now directs missions for the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention.
Land, who has done missionary work in Siberia and the Amazon, said that, while missionaries must always be aware of their surroundings, most return safely from overseas.
“The biggest physical danger to missionaries is from auto accidents,” Land said. “Property theft is fairly common, but actual physical attacks are very rare.”
Gariety last visited Appleton about three years ago, according to Land.
Jerry and Toni Mugg of Appleton knew how dedicated Gariety was to her newfound home.
The Muggs, who opened their home to Gariety when she spoke at Valley Baptist, said Gariety always shipped to Yemen local donations such as medical supplies, sheets and baby blankets.
The face of the mission field has changed since the 1960s, when the Rev. David Belongea, a member of the Capuchin order who lives at Appleton’s St. Fidelis Friary, began his 30-year ministry in Nicaragua.
At that time, Belongea said, missionaries’ main concerns were butting heads with their counterparts of different denominations. Little by little, he said, missionaries learned to listen to each other, as well as to find God’s spirit dwelling in the hearts of the native people.
“We were there to accompany people through their sufferings and sorrows,” Belongea said. “It’s a love for faith and a willingness to share that faith.”
The perils today’s missionaries face are nothing new, said Janet Lenz, director of missions at Christ the Rock Community Church.
“Yet maybe it’s becoming more common for us to find out about them because of all the other things going on in our country,” she said, referring to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Christ the Rock supports about 12 missionary families abroad and counted at least 130 members in its 2002 mission trip program.
Kara Patterson can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or by e-mail at kpatterson@postcrescent.com