Celebrations - with Mission Messages

22 new Cardinals for the Church.

Among them our Prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Fernando Filoni (shown to the right with Father Andrew Small, OMI, National Director, on the night before the Consistory).


Also two from the United States: our good friend of the Missions, Archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, former archbishop of Baltimore and now Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Father Andrew journeyed to Rome to be part of the celebrations of the Church's new Cardinals. On that pilgrimage with him are directors of our Pontifical Mission Societies' offices in New York (Sister Pauline Chirchirillo, PBVM) and in San Diego (Father Joseph Miller, SVD), and with them, supporters of the Missions, as well as the Director of Development from the National Office, Mary Di Donato.

In his talk before Pope Benedict XVI and the College of Cardinals the day before the Consistory, then Archbishop Dolan spoke about "the announcement of the Gospel today, between the mission ad gentes and the New Evangelization." "Yes, we gather as missionaries, as evangelizers," he said. He also spoke about the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, former National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith: "The acclaimed American missionary and TV evangelist, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, commented, 'Our Lord's first word to His disciples was 'come!' His last word was 'go!' You can't 'go' unless you've first 'come' to Him." Read the entire text of that talk at the blog site of our friends at Catholic News Service.

And also look through images and reflections on events of that Rome pilgrimage for National Director Father Andrew and members of our mission family on our Facebook page, including "Celebrating the New Cardinals" photo albums, part one and part two. There is also a look at Father Andrew and our pilgrims visiting Mater Ecclesiae College in Castel Gandolfo, as well as their encounter with an archbishop from Africa at the headquarters of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Rome.

Mission Bangladesh

Bangladesh. A people, desperately poor, with more than a third of the population living on less than $1 a day. A people, many in the low-lying country vulnerable to flooding and cyclones, fearful that global climate change could cause a major environmental disaster in their homeland.

The Church in Bangladesh – young and a small minority, less than one percent of the population. Among the 160 million people about 90 percent are Muslims, eight percent Hindu, and the rest belonging to other religions, including Buddhism and Christianity. According to the 2011 Bangladesh Catholic Directory, there are some 344,000 Catholics in the country; almost half that number are tribal peoples. Of the seven Catholic dioceses receiving help from the Pontifical Mission Societies, five have been established in the past 60 years; one diocese – Sylhet – just founded in July 2011. Help offered by Catholics to the Church in Bangladesh provides for the work of parishes and schools, as well as for the formation of local priests, religious and lay catechists who will lift up the poor through concrete efforts and the life-giving message of the Gospel. In fact, although the size of the Church in Bangladesh is small, its works make a significant, hope-filled difference in the lives of the poor.


In mid-January, National Director Father Andrew Small, OMI made a journey across the world to walk with our mission family in this Asian nation. As he witnessed the good accomplished by your prayers and sacrifices, he saw also hope in faith offered to children, to the sick and dying, to workers and families, and through the work and witness of priests, religious and catechists. Travel with Father Andrew (see reports on our main website), grateful to be joined together as "one family in mission."

The Pontifical Mission Societies are grateful for the collaboration of UCA News in bringing you reports from Father Andrew's mission visit to Bangladesh.