Christmas 2011

Dear Friends:

“The Holy Spirit gives us joy. And He is joy. Joy is the gift in which all the other gifts are included. The missionary spirit of the Church is none other than the impulse to communicate the joy which has been given.” – Pope Benedict XVI

The Advent Season prepares us for Christmas and the joy of spending time with family and friends, as Pope Benedict reminds us. As part of our preparation, we pray for our brothers and sisters in the Missions.  Our help is needed for children lacking food, water, and clothing as well as the elderly suffering from serious illness without medical attention.  

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith carries out the Pope’s personal mandate to bring the Light of Christ to all nations, especially to the poor.  During Advent, we invite you to join the Holy Father by:

1. praying for the success of our initiatives around the world,
2. making a gift to those in need through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and
3. inviting others to become a part of this important work of the Church.

Advent is a time to support the priests, religious, and lay catechists who are offering tangible help, while communicating to all of them the joy of the Christ-child: God with us! While missionaries play critical, life-saving roles for countless families, they cannot do it alone. We are so thankful to have such generous friends, like you, dedicated to helping us.   Please “Be An Angel” for those who are in greatest need and know your support is deeply appreciated and will truly make a difference. Thank you for your consideration.

I wish you and your loved ones a holy Advent and a joyous Christmas. Be assured that I will remember you and your intentions at Mass and in my prayers in the coming weeks.

Gratefully in Christ,
Sister Mary Ellen Brett, SSJ
Diocesan Director

Pontifical Mission Society

Reverend Andrew Small, OMI, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Pontifical Mission Societies support the People of God

Collections taken up for World Mission Sunday, gifts from individual benefactors, and contributions that come in thanks to various missionary projects, are all sent first to the respective National Offices of the Pontifical Mission Societies in each country, to be put in a common fund, the Universal Solidarity Fund. During the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, normally held during the month of May, presided by the Archbishop President and the Secretary Generals of the four Societies, the members of the Assembly discuss hundreds of requests from all over the world for funding for building churches, chapels and local centers for apostolate, for aid and formation of seminarians and catechists, for educational projects and activities for children. The Assembly takes into account the available economic resources and criteria of equality and justice, decides on the distribution of the funding. Unfortunately, the Universal Solidarity Fund is never large enough to be able to respond positively to all the petitions for aid.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith receives thousands of requests for aid from all across the missionary world, mainly concerning the formation of catechists, the construction and maintenance of churches, chapels, and convents, diocesan activities and aid for pastoral activity of religious congregations.

The Pontifical Mission Society St. Peter the Apostle funded a total of 837 seminaries: 461 minor seminaries and 376 major seminaries, some of which depend on the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and others which do not.  The total number of seminarians supported by the Society is 77,715: 51,592 minor seminarians and 26,123 major seminarians.

The Pontifical Society of the Holy Childhood, or the Holy Childhood Association, focuses on the role of “little ones” in announcing the Kingdom. The requests for funding regard programs for religious instruction, food and medical assistance, clothing and school material, installation of classrooms for catechetical purposes and centers for children, acquiring medicines and support for poor children.

Pope Paul VI defined the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU) as the soul of the other Mission Aid Societies. The PMU strives to promote missionary consciousness among seminarians, priests and religious. The PMU attempts to animate all animators of the People of God for the Mission by spreading and promoting the other mission societies.  It fosters Christian unity so that they may be so perfected in unity that the world will recognize that it was you who sent me.