Pontifical Mission Societies

http://www.worldmissions-catholicchurch.org/pms/desktopdefault.aspx

Through the Pontifical Mission Societies – which include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Holy Childhood Association, Society of St. Peter Apostle, and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious, every Catholic in every country has the opportunity to be a part of the continuing mission of the Church. Even the poorest in the Developing World contribute to the mission needs of the Church Worldwide.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded in Lyons , France , in 1822 by a young French laywoman, Pauline Jaricot. Inspired by stories she heard about missionary work in China , she felt called by the Lord to help the Catholic Church's worldwide missionary work. Pauline herself never traveled to the Missions, which, during her lifetime, consisted of the Missions in China — and young dioceses in the United States . Pauline gathered friends and workers in a family silk mill into "circles of ten," asking each person to pray daily for the Missions and sacrifice a penny-a-week (at that time, quite a large sacrifice!). From this idea emerged the Propagation of the Faith.

Today the General Fund of the Propagation of the Faith, which gathers gifts from Catholics all over the world — a concept that originated with Pauline Jaricot and her desire to help all the world's missions — is the basic means of support for the Catholic Church's worldwide Missions.

Holy Childhood Association: French Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson founded the Holy Childhood Association in 1843. Deeply affected by the distress of Chinese children abandoned in the streets, he was moved to found a society similar to the Propagation of the Faith — but for children. He was convinced that though weak and needing care, children rich in faith and love are capable of playing their own part in the Church's mission — and even of stirring adults to show the same generous spirit.

The response to Bishop Forbin-Janson's appeal was extraordinary. In a few years, the unique concept of "children helping children" spread not only throughout his native France , but all over Europe, then to North America, Latin America and Asia, and in the last 40 years, to Africa .

HCA was established in 1846 in the United States , first in New Orleans , Louisiana , and later in Baltimore , Maryland . Today, its National Office is located in New York City with diocesan HCA offices nationwide.

HCA was raised to the status of "Pontifical" in 1922 by Pope Pius XI.

Bishop Forbin-Janson's mission of "children helping children" continues to guide HCA today.

The Society of St. Peter Apostle: In 1889, mother and daughter — Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard — answered a desperate plea for help from the Missions. The French missionary bishop of Nagazaki , Japan wrote to the two women asking for help to keep his seminary open because he had run out of the funds necessary to help educate these young men to serve their people as priests. The bishop just did not have the funds to train these young Japanese men whom, he judged, would make excellent priests.

The Bigards came to his assistance and started a small group for this purpose in their native Caen , France . From these humble beginnings emerged the Society of St. Peter Apostle. Within five years of sending their first donation to Japan, the Bigards, and those whom they enlisted to help, were sending funds to seminaries in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Korea and China.

The goal of the Society of St. Peter then and now has been to invite individuals to support the education of candidates for the Catholic priesthood in the Developing World and to support the formation of men and women candidates for the Religious life in the Missions.

In its first year, the Society of St. Peter Apostle sent help for some 2,700 seminarians in the Missions. Today, some 30,000 major seminarians, mostly in Africa and Asia , receive an annual subsidy of $700 per student.

Missionary Union of Priests and Religious: In 1916, Father Paolo Manna, a PIME missionary serving in Myanmar (then called Burma), envisioned an organization that would help him to share the spiritual graces he had received through his work in bringing the "Good News" of Christ to others. He wanted to encourage those already engaged in the work of the Church to support the work of the Missions — and perhaps to become missionaries themselves. And so, he formed the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

Today, this spiritual apostolate started by this Italian missionary continues to address itself to those called to bring Catholics to a better understanding of their baptismal responsibility for the church’s missionary work — to priests, Religious, seminarians, pastoral leaders and those engaged in catechesis and religious education.

In fact, the success of the efforts of the three other missionary societies is linked to the vitality of the Missionary Union, because it is through this work that the missionary spirit –– a spirit of prayer and generous sacrifice — is developed and nurtured. Animators inspiring other animators to carry out the baptismal mandate to "go to all nations and proclaim the 'Good News'" is what inspires so many men and women, Religious and lay to witness and share their faith with so many more.