ARTICLES

Lynchburg couple join Church, change lifestyle

By Jean Denton
Special to The Catholic Virginian

This Easter marked the fifth anniversary of Tara Condon’s baptism and her husband Aaron’s profession of faith in the Catholic Church.

They came in through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults at Holy Cross Church in Lynchburg in 2003.

But what the young couple did next was a bit more radical than the usual RCIA follow-up.

They sold their possessions, packed up their two young sons and traveled to a remote, impoverished island in the south Pacific to serve as missionaries.

Now in the third of a three-year commitment with the Lay Mission Helpers, Tara and Aaron Condon have been an inspiration to the people they serve in the Marshall Islands as well as to the Holy Cross faith community.

“It’s fascinating to me,” said Mark DeLaHunt, a Holy Cross parishioner who was Aaron Condon’s RCIA sponsor. “Their self sacrifice as missionaries, giving up their job, home and family ties gave us a tangible, personal example of someone living the radical love of Christ.”

Tara, 29, and Aaron, 32, had an active Christian faith before they entered the RCIA process. DeLaHunt describes them as having been “evangelical Protestants.”

In fact, it was through his son’s local “evangelical karate group” that DeLaHunt first met Aaron Condon who produced video for the program.

They would meet again later when Aaron, in a spiritual search, visited Holy Cross to witness a Catholic Mass. Aaron Condon had been baptized Catholic but would practice his faith as a young adult through the Protestant tradition.

At the time he was drawn to the Catholic church, Aaron and Tara were helping her father who was pastor of a non-denominational charismatic church in Lynchburg, heading a prayer team and leading praise and worship.

Aaron began reading such Catholic spiritual scholars as Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton that resonated with him.

“Then I went to Mass and fell in love with the sacredness of the liturgy and sacraments. I felt like I finally found my home,” he recalled.

DeLaHunt noted that things “fell into place” for him to be Aaron’s sponsor and the latter’s enthusiasm for the Catholic church added to his own during the RCIA process.

Aaron said that initially Tara supported his interest in the Catholic Church but thought “it was not for her.” However, after attending an RCIA session with him she changed her mind and joined him in the process whole heartedly.

DeLaHunt pointed out that the young couple studied diligently on their own beyond the RCIA curriculum.

“They were almost on their own path,” he said. “There was a lot of excitement in both of them especially for the sacraments as being truly signs of God’s grace.

“They were really excited about how that would affect their lives—and it was exciting for me as a cradle Catholic to see someone so enthusiastic about it.”

Once they came into the Church, they immediately set about satisfying a desire to serve as missionaries that had been growing in both of them for some time.

“In my experience, the Protestant churches that I went to were more focused on getting involved in the church, while the emphasis in the Catholic Church was to go outside the church and help the poor,” Aaron said. “This shift began our serious consideration of mission work.”

Tara, who has lived in Lynchburg since age 10, said, “All I know is that my love for the poor has been with me since I was little.”

It likely began, she said, when her father, a Messianic Jew, showed her the film “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” about Saints Francis and Clare and their love for the least.

“Something about that movie touched me and I felt compelled to serve in the same way,” Tara recalled.

In middle school and high school she volunteered at a soup kitchen, a home for girls and a camp for handicapped children and “the desire only increased as I got older.”

The couple, married since 1997, was accepted by the Catholic Lay Mission Helpers in 2005 and after several months of formal training in California went to the Marshall Islands. They took their sons Ocean, now 7, and Cana, 4. Nine months ago they adopted their daughter, Siloam, 17 months, a Marshallese native.

Their work in the islands has been challenging, the Condons admit.

Early on they struggled with the weather, impoverished conditions, lack of food and water. But the arrival of donations from the Holy Cross community helped them persist.

They mentioned in one letter to DeLaHunt that “it was nice to know that they were not forgotten,” he said.

Tara teaches in the local school and counsels youth in the community. Aaron, an audio-visual production specialist, recently started a television show for youth that is shown on the local public broadcasting station.

Produced in the Marshallese language and the first of its kind, “the show addresses the issues they are facing,” Aaron explained. “Every week we have a new guest on to talk about a variety of topics from religion to racism.”

DeLaHunt added, “It’s an edgy kind of show—Aaron’s very good at this.”

Tara noted, “Every few months we question if we can continue, but God always comes through and we know the suffering is pushing us toward some greater good.

“It is hard being around such intense poverty, but there are always surprises, especially working so closely with abused teens and witnessing a lot of mistreatment of children.”

Nevertheless the care packages from Holy Cross continue to buoy the spirits of both the Condons and their Marshallese community, and the church community back in Lynchburg.

Mark DeLaHunt and his wife Catherine head the small committee that keeps the connection alive. They are helped by Tricia Christian and Malia King. Catherine DeLaHunt maintains a bulletin board of photos and news of the Condon family mission. Mark involves the parish faith formation classes who help provide donations and write letters to the Marshallese children.

Deacon Gordon Cartwright of Holy Cross pointed out that parish support for the Condons’ mission has been generous, even though few people had time to get to know them before they left for the Pacific. The Cartwrights have personal ties, too, as the deacon’s wife, Gloria, served as Tara’s sponsor and they are godparents to the oldest Condon son.

Last Christmas the parish sent nine boxes of clothing, school supplies and food items along with a collection of DVDs. In the fall, DeLaHunt noted, they held a craft fair in the church commons in which woven items handcrafted by Marshallese women were sold and the proceeds returned to the native artisans.

“Holy Cross has been a huge support,” Tara said. “The Holy Cross community is serving alongside us, not physically, but their presence through donations and prayers and support is constantly felt.”

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