By Father Darin Schmidt
When I volunteered to take over for Father Jerome Ranek as diocesan director for the propagation of the faith, I didn’t know all that much about what would be involved, but attending the Midwest Regional Conference of the Pontifical Mission Societies this past March in St. Cloud, Minnesota, has provided a good orientation.
First, I didn’t realize there are actually four mission societies working together as the Church’s main support for missions in the name of the pope. The Society of the Propagation of the Faith is the oldest mission, founded to support the missionaries themselves and the newest congregations, building churches or adding on where the Church is growing the fastest, often under persecution. Propagation of the faith is also the most general and overarching mission. Receiving funds from their main annual collection, World Mission Sunday and other donations, they can allocate additional support to the other mission societies as needed.
The Society of St. Peter the Apostle supports vocations and the formation of priests and religious in missionary territories. They mentioned places in Nigeria having around 500 applicants each year, while only being able to admit 20 men, mainly due to financial constraints. In many of these areas, the assistance provided amounts only to $380 or less per seminarian annually, so donations can go a long way to forming priests where vocations are booming.
The Missionary Childhood Association finds ways to connect kids in our Catholic schools and religious education programs to other children in mission territories, giving them a greater sense of the worldwide Church and opportunities to share the Gospel in really impactful ways. They use “mite boxes” for donations, alluding to the Gospel scene of the poor widow praised by Christ for contributing her two mites (copper coins) to the temple treasury from her poverty, acknowledging that the donations collected from our school children for the missions might not be huge amounts but very precious in God’s eyes because of their source.
Finally, the Pontifical Missionary Union was founded especially to educate and inspire pastoral leaders with greater missionary awareness and zeal in all areas of the Church and Christian life. Originally geared only towards members of the clergy, it has since expanded to include formation of all the baptized in our vocation to spread the Gospel and take part in the Church’s mission in all the ways God empowers us to do so and according to the opportunities he provides each day.
To be missionary should be part of our very identity, as our bishop often reminds us in the diocesan vision, to form “Lifelong Catholic Missionary Disciples Through God’s Love.” These Pontifical Mission Societies focus especially on the spread of the Gospel and the spiritual aspects of the Church’s mission, while Catholic Relief Services and other organizations often focus more on providing for material needs. These mission societies also focus specifically in areas of the world where the Church is still new, often growing fast, but in need of assistance from more established parts of the Church.
One objection I commonly hear when it comes to supporting the foreign missions is that there are already so many needs closer to home, and this is certainly an understandable concern, but I think it often betrays a lack of faith on our part for God to provide and reward our generosity, along with an impoverished sense of unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, no matter what distances may separate us. “Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor 9:6).
In Ephesians and almost all his letters, St. Paul reflects beautifully about the Church as one body of Christ, with various members and parts made one with Christ as our head. This is also the basis of Pope Leo XIV’s motto, In illo Uno unum. We are “one in that One” (Christ). “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (1 Cor 12:26-27). If we are generous in supporting those parts of the Church that are most in need, those members of Christ’s own body who are often enduring persecutions and trials, the whole Church is built up. God sees and blesses every mercy shown.
Fruit that is nourished in one part of the Church returns to benefit all other parts. We see this even in the number of religious and foreign vocations that have ministered throughout the history of the Diocese of Sioux Falls and in more recent years.
The U.S. has long been a world leader in our prayerful and financial support of the missions. This year will mark the 100th anniversary for World Mission Sunday in October; the beatification in September of Bishop Fulton Sheen, whose life was so much dedicated to the missions and to spreading the Gospel through media; the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, whose great desire was to spread love for Christ to as many as possible; and the continued reign of an American missionary as our pope.
I pray we’ll all renew our commitment to the missions and to sharing the Gospel in our own daily lives. When kept to ourselves, our faith dries up. When we share it with others, our own faith finds new life and vigor. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mk 8:35).
