The Society for the Propagation of the Faith is an integral part of the church wherever it freely exists. The Propagation of the Faith serves the Pope and the Bishops in reminding Catholics of their fundamental responsibility, by virtue of their Baptism, for the Church's worldwide mission.

 

It was the vision of Pauline Jaricot which led to the foundation of the Propagation of the Faith in 1822. As a young lay woman in Lyons, France, she gathered friends and workers in her family's silk mill into "circles of ten," asking each person to pray daily for the Missions and make a regular weekly sacrifice.

 

The very first collection of the Propagation of the Faith was divided three ways: one-third to the Church in China and one-third each to the Church in Louisiana and Kentucky. The Church in the United States received some $7 million in help from the Propagation of the Faith from 1822 to 1922. The Church in the United States has supported the Church's missionary outreach since 1840.

 

Today, through the Propagation of the faith, Catholics of the world support the pastoral and evangelizing work of more than 1,000 mission dioceses in Asia and Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands. Catholics are encouraged, first and foremost, to pray for the Church's worldwide missionary work. They are asked also to offer their own sufferings, their personal crosses, in union with the sufferings of Christ on the Cross for the redemption of the world. Catholics too are asked to provide financial help. All contributions from the world's Catholics are gathered into a general fund.

 

From the General Fund gathered each year, each mission diocese–in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America–receives an Ordinary Subsidy, a grant determined by a diocese's size which is placed at the disposition of the local bishop for the basic needs of the diocese.

 

To insure that the remainder of the General Fund is distributed in the fairest and most universal manner, the national directors of the Propagation of the Faith gather each spring in Rome, under the direction of the Holy Father, to discuss and vote on requests that have come

from the Missions. Each year, all funds are disbursed completely, depending only on faith and the missionary spirit of Catholics worldwide to provide for future needs.

 

Help is given for the education and support of seminarians, Religious novices and lay catechists; for the work of Religious Communities in education, health care and social services; for communications and transportation, and emergency aid, as needed.

 

In a village in southern India, 100 persons prepare for Baptism–all of them Hindus. "They had seen what we–the Sisters and the priests here–do, and they know for Whom we do it, the Lord," Monsignor Thomas Chitta, a local priest from India notes. "They wanted to be part of the Church." The local Religious Community there, the Sisters of St. Anne, run a home for more than 100 handicapped children. These Sisters and local priests are also involved in health care, orphanages and homes for the aged.

 

On some days, Moses, a catechist in homeland of Tanzania, will travel more than 20 miles, on foot or bicycle, to tell people in remote villages about God. He works among the Masai in Arusha–and in the past ten years, the catholic Masai community there has Quadrupled.

 

In Nicaragua, a local priest travels on Pearl Lagoon to visit the catholic communities living there. "They are so happy to see the boat," says father Joel Brown, O.F.M. Cap. "They know they will receive the Eucharist and that is very important to them, central in their lives." American missionary Sister Lael Niblick, C.S.A. makes the journeys too. Both feel that despite the difficulties in travel to these communities, their "getting there" is vitally needed. "The Church has made a real difference in the lives of these people," Sister Lael says. And the people have responded; there are vocations to the priesthood and Religious life. "The Church here is growing," Father brown notes.

 

In the United States, there is a national director for the Propagation of the Faith and, in each diocese, a director is appointed by the bishop to coordinate the work on the local level.

 

Each year, World Mission Sunday (next-to-last Sunday of October) provides an opportunity for the catholics of the world to recommit themselves, through prayer and sacrifice offered at the Eucharist celebration, to the Church's mission to all nations. Financial support can also be offered through a bequest for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (legal title), through mail appeals, and monthly giving programs, through enrollment (Membership), through MISSION magazine, and through planned giving programs.

 

The Propagation of the faith supports the local churches in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and areas of latin America as they proclaim the Gospel–in word and deed–among two-thirds of our human family who do not yet know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

 

The Propagation of the Faith is "all of us committed to the worldwide mission of Jesus."

 

 

We are all called on by the Lord to world missions. Few actually go to the mission field; witnessing to the lost the "Good News" of Jesus Christ. Many are needed here to support and send others to do the good work that missions provide. We are all involved in mission work.

 

Please remember our missionaries in your prayers, with your gifts and in your will. Remember Mission Sunday, October 22, 2000.

 

Gifts can be made by mailing:

 

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith
100 North 62nd St.
Omaha, NE 68132

Or Call (402) 558-3100

 

Thank You.