Visit to a School for Hearing Impaired Children in Nyamata

National Director, Fr. Andrew Small, OMI visited a school for the hearing impaired children in Nyamata, Rwanda.  Please consider supporting such great works by
visiting: Pontifical Mission Societies

Also visiting Centre St. Vincent Pallotti Ltd. in Kigali, Rwanda

MCA Christmas Art Contest Winners 2014

Every year, the national office of the Missionary Childhood association chooses one grand prize winner in its annual Christmas Artwork Contest. This artwork is reproduced as the official Christmas card of the national office of the Pontifical Mission societies. Twenty-three other drawings are selected as winners. All of the winning designs are featured here.

Adriana Zajac
Brooklyn, NY
grade 4

Alice Medina
Philadelphia, PA
grade 4

Allyson Brucato
Metuchen, NJ
grade 4

Brianna Flores
Los Angeles, CA
grade 8

Carlos Gomez
Miami, FL
grade 4

Danny Leonard
Harrisburg, PA
grade 4

Emily Kim
Arlington, Va
grade 6

Emily Selby
Springfield, IL
grade 8

Emma Bryan
Miami, FL
grade 8

Flora Sengupta
Brooklyn, NY
grade 7

India Wisniewski
Arlington, VA
grade 2

Isabela Rodicio
Miami, FL
grade 4

Janeth Santiago
Los Angeles, CA
grade 8

Khanh Nguyen
Wichita, KS
grade 8

Khianna Byrne
San Francisco, CA
grade 8

Kinga Aletto
Venice, FL
grade 8

Klaudia Bafia
Chicago, IL
grade 2

Levin Pallan
Brooklyn, NY
grade 7

Lucero Alvarez-Contreras
New York, NY
grade 2

Mary Strunak
Metuchen, NJ
grade 5

Meghan Elliott
Springfield, IL
grade 2

Rebecca Donnelly
Harrisburg, PA
grade 5

Ruby Pruitt
Springfield, IL
grade 3

Shane Samuelson
Metuchen, NJ
grade 4

Rev. Andrew Small, National Director with the 2014 MCA winners

35th Anniversary of the Death of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

December 9, 2014

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

35th Anniversary of the Death of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

We remember today the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen on the 35^th anniversary of his death. He was the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 until 1966. However, his desire to communicate his faith and his concern for the Missions was a vital part of his entire priestly life. Archbishop Sheen was widely recognized for his radio and television series through which he shared his love for Christ and His Church. He was also a prolific writer. It seems only fitting that Saint Pope John Paul II told him, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church.” He was 84 at his death in 1979.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us to understand the need to reach out to those in greatest need of His mercy. “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not…go in search of the stray? And if he finds it … he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine” (Matthew 18:12-13). We must follow Christ and His saints by spreading the word of God – and always responding, in love and charity, to the lost sheep.

Giving Thanks for the Faith

It’s something we all do – count our blessings.  Topping the list is our faith, our Lord’s greatest gift to each one of us.  Another important blessing is the presence of missionaries.  In difficult and often dangerous circumstances, missionaries reach out with the loving heart of our Lord.  Missionaries like Sister Adelina.  On the island of Nias in Indonesia, she and other Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy staff an orphanage and a school.  They also regularly visit a home for handicapped and disabled children and young people. 

Count your blessings today.  And don’t forget the blessing of sharing in the work of missionaries like Sister Adelina by your prayers – and your financial help through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. 

World Mission Sunday 2014

"Let us pray through the intercession of Mary, the model of humble and joyful evangelization, that the Church may become a welcoming home, a mother for all peoples and the source of rebirth for our world." - Pope Francis

To view a video on the missions click here: Mission Mongolia

A letter from the Holy Father-click here: Pope Francis on Missions

Thank you for your ongoing support of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith and our vital work in 1,150 dioceses throughout the world.
Your generosity makes it possible for missionaries, local priests,
catechists and pastoral workers to reach out in the name of Jesus to
communities and families in need.
“The Church is called to transmit the joy of the Lord to her children,” Pope
Francis tells us. And as members of the Church, united as the One Body
of Christ, we are called to support, in prayer and sacrifice, the Church’s
mission to bring that joy to people everywhere — especially, as Pope
Francis urges, “the poorest, the weakest, the least important…”
Thank you for your generosity.
Very Reverend Andrew Small, OMI
National Director

Meet Gantulga

Gantulga’s family is just one Mongolian family whose lives have been dramatically transformed after hearing the Good News of Jesus and accepting Him into their hearts. Gantulga and his family, including his wife Uurtsaikh and their children, live in the rural town of Arvaiheer, about 300 miles from Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar.  The family first learned about the Catholic Church when they moved to the town after tragically losing all their livestock almost 10 years ago. They were one of a few lucky families to be given a new ger, a traditional Mongolian round tent dwelling. While Uurtsaikh and the children started attending activities run by the local Catholic Church, Gantulga was haunted by his alcoholism and his destructive behavior. “Before in my life, I made a lot of mistakes and I was addicted to alcohol and I had problems with violence, not understanding, misunderstandings with other people,” he explains. “When I started going to church and feeling how God’s mercy reaches me, I felt that I had to receive Baptism.” “Sometimes I try to imagine what would have been my life without faith,” Gantulga continues. “And then frankly I do not find an answer because most probably I would have been pulled by the river of my old life into something bad. I don’t know really what would have been my life without Christ.”Gantulga received Baptism at Easter 2013, but even before that — when he started coming to church with Uurtsaikh and their children — he saw drastic changes in his life. Today Gantulga is not only a better father and husband, he has also emerged as a leader in the community, reaching out to others in need.

Gantulga’s whole family is involved with the Church’s work here. Three

times a week, he participates in a men’s group where they make religious

objects and souvenirs out of wood and leather, while his wife, Uurtsaikh,

is involved in a similar group for women. The couple’s children are also

active in the Church, attending Mass with their parents, and taking part

in the before and after school care programs.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith has supported the

development and outreach of the Catholic Church since Bishop Wens

and the other missionaries were first invited in to the country more than

20 years ago. With your ongoing support through the Society for the

Propagation of the Faith, offered on World Mission Sunday, the work

of these missionaries may continue here and around the globe, and the

poor receive practical help, while they experience God’s love and mercy,

His hope and peace.

Meet Bishop Wencesao (Wens) Padilla

“Jesus said to Saint Peter, ‘Upon this rock, I will build my Church.’  And I’m thinking that is also addressed to me when I came to Mongolia.” – Bishop Wens

Just over 20 years ago, Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, a missionary priest from the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and now the first Bishop of Mongolia, arrived in Mongolia with two fellow priests.  He recalls finding a country struggling with issues like alcoholism and domestic abuse, with minimal government social services, and with extreme poverty.  He found people searching “for God and for holiness.” 

Bishop Wens was literally starting from zero – no Catholics in Mongolia when he and his fellow missionaries arrived.  The first Baptisms, as a group, took place after three years of their presence.  From the first group, the number of Catholics has continued to grow across Mongolia, with the total today numbering around 850.  Bishop Wens remains as committed today as on that first day, to reach out and offer practical and spiritual support to those in need, and to continue to build the Church.  Pope Francis is very strong on this, ‘Go out, go there and do something for the people especially the poor’…Because that’s what I wanted to do, reaching out to people, to the poor.

The Mongolian Catholic Church and other Catholic churches around the world urgently need us to reach out with them through our prayers and our financial help.  They need that support, for example, to build new churches and schools, train catechists, run medical centers, English and skill training classes, and homes for children with disabilities and who are homeless.

REMEMBER THE MISSIONS!

Thank you for your generosity and prayers,

Very Reverend Andrew Small, OMI

National Director

Think Like a Missionary this October

"All the members of the Church are called to participate in this mission, for the Church is missionary by her very nature: she was born “to go forth”. - Pope Francis

What can your World Mission Sunday donation help accomplish in the Missions?

A gift of $25 is a month’s support for a mission catechist

Image from St. Lucia

$75 provides for the work of Religious Sisters.

Mission sisters 

An offering of $100 is a month’s help for a village mission. 

Mongolia

Always, your prayers are your most treasured gift to the Missions.

The life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patroness of the Missions offers Catholics insight into how they may fulfill their Baptismal responsibility to share the Good News of Jesus without ever “going to the Missions.” St. Thérèse dedicated her life to the Missions by offering her prayers and her personal sacrifices – her pain, her loneliness, her suffering – for missionaries and those whom they served.

Anniversary of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Today is the anniversary of one of our past National Directors, Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  Sheen was ordained September 20th, 1919 and was the head of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966.  Archbishop Sheen had a great love for the missions and truly knew what it meant to be a priest.

“We become real priests when we empty ourselves and no longer seek our own identity, and where we are lifted up to the cross, not going ‘down to people.’ Too many of us today feel we have to be loved . . . thinking the young will not love us unless we talk like them, eat like them, drink like them, clothe ourselves like them. No! They will not love us simply because we go down; they will love us when we lift them up. Else, the world will drag them down .”  Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen 

In February of 1951 Archbishop Sheen inaugurated a "World Mission Rosary":
"We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world.  To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary." Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Give the world one great big hug and celebrate the anniversary of this great priest by praying his World Mission Rosary.  Learn more about the World Mission Rosary and order rosaries for yourself and to share with others here: WORLD MISSION ROSARY

Mission Solidarity Visit August 2014 Philippines

As Christ’s body, we are intimately connected to one another as one family in mission.

In seeing that connection, we can reach out with our prayers and generosity and do great things together helping to educate the next generation.

On all my missionary journeys, I feel close to you, our partners in this holy work, bound together as we are in prayer for the poor and the oppressed.

Throughout the Missions, chapels and churches are built with your support through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Be a part of helping children all over the world and go to: HELP THE MISSIONS

Thank you and God Bless, 

Fr. Andrew Small, OMI, National Director