PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES
PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES
HOW THE CONGREGATION FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF PEOPLES ORGANIZES THE WORLD MISSION DAY
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has four societies which deal with all the missionary activities of the dicastery for the evangelization of the whole Church. These are the four societies: the Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith (PSPF), the Pontifical Society of Holy Childhood (PSHC), the Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle (PSSPA) and the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU). Let us try to understand why they exist and how they work.
Today we will be talking about the PSPF as we are in the middle of a week of preparation for World Mission Day (WMD). Let us see how it started and how the pioneers organized this spiritual and material support for missionary activities.
The Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith (PSPF) was born after the French Revolution. During this period, the Church in France suffered greatly. At the time, the Missions Etrangères de Paris (MEP) - Foreign Missions of Paris could only send two missionaries to the Far East. As in all difficult times, the Holy Spirit always renews things and raises workers ready to work in the Lord's Vineyard.
A young woman from Lyon (France), the Venerable Servant of God Pauline Marie Jaricot, after a comfortable life, she was touched by the grace of God and remained faithful to her faith in Jesus Christ until the end of her life. “In 1816 Pauline took a vow of chastity and rediscovered the reasons for her life in the devotion to the Eucharist and in the reparation of the offenses against the Sacred Heart of Jesus”.
Around her a group of women was formed which became a spiritual Association known as the “Reparatrices”. All these young women are all from the working world because they “come from family factories”. Often, they were, each found another ten people to accompany the work of missionaries in their missionary activities. Two elements are at the center of the life of this spiritual Association: PRAYER and MONEY, that is to say both SPIRITUAL and MATERIAL support. Many people embraced this initiative and on May 3, 1822, the group became the “Association of the Propagation of the Faith".
One hundred years later, the Church will recognize the missionary spirit and its service to the universal Church of Pauline Marie Jaricot. Thus, Pope Pius XI, on May 3, 1922, through the Motu Proprio Romanorum Pontificum, declares the Society of the Propagation of the Faith «Pontifical».
Its goal is "open the heart of every believer to the vastness of the missionary horizon, through spiritual and material support for the proclamation of the Kingdom of God”. The PSPF seeks to promote two essential elements in all missionary activities: Missionary spirituality and universal solidarity. “Missionary spirituality which, through prayer and sacrifice, helps to revive the missionary ardor of Christian communities and individual faithful, through meditation on the Word of God, Eucharistic Adoration, and the missionary Rosary. - Universal solidarity through the contribution to the Universal Solidarity Fund for the Evangelization of the world, especially on World Mission Day, which is celebrated on the penultimate Sunday of October, an event of participation of the people of God in the catholicity of the Church”. The PSPF, in its concerns, is responsible for organizing what is collected throughout the world during the WMD. It is with this money that PSPF organizes the evangelization of the world and materially supports the churches in difficulty.
Finally, we can say that before it becomes a Society that depends on the Pope, the PSPF is above all a work of secular origin and moreover of a young woman. You women are able to do a lot of things in the Church. Feel completely at home in the Catholic Church. Not only women, but also men, young people, the Catholic Church is your home, it is everyone's home. We must support it as much as possible, spiritually, and materially.
Dear parishioners of Saints Peter and Paul, thank you very much for all you do for our great Parish family and for your generosity. My brother, my sister, your talents, your time, your gifts, your charisms, and your money, are necessary for the building up of the Church of God here in West Valley, in Utah. It is a way for you to participate in the mission of the Church and to live your life as a disciple and missionary of Christ. As a full member of the Church, through your baptism, you are a missionary. We are all missionaries. The Second Vatican Council affirms: "By nature, the Church, during her pilgrimage on earth, is missionary, since she herself draws her origin from the mission of the Son and from the mission of the Holy Spirit, according to the plan of God. the Father” (Ad Gentes # 2).
Father Sébastien SASA, PhD, MPA
Administrator of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church
West Valley City, UT
SUPPORT FOR MISSIONS COMES FROM THE PEOPLE OF GOD AND RETURNS TO GOD
THE FORMATION OF FUTURE PRIESTS, RELIGIOUS OF YOUNG CHURCHES
The Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle (PSSPA) is one of the four missionary Societies that support the missionary activities of the Church. Often people ask the question: Where does the money we give to the Church on World Mission Day go? And the prayers that we raise to God on this day and on other days, are they important? The prayers of the faithful of the Church and their material support are a great support to all missionary activities in the five continents of the World and especially in young Churches and those in economic difficulty.
Support for missions comes from God's people and returns to God. God, the Father of all that exists in the World gives us all we need. We too, we have to give without cost: “WITHOUT COST YOU HAVE RECEIVED; WITHOUT COST YOU ARE TO GIVE” (Mt 10: . Part of the money we donate on Mission Sunday is dedicated to the training of future priests, men and women religious of young churches. In 1999 I had received a scholarship to do my Master’s degree in Missiology studying at the great Missionary University of the World, the Pontifical University Urbaniana in Rome. And with this scholarship, I lived during my years of study at the Pontifical College of Saint Peter the Apostle in Gianicolo (Rome). And for my Ph.D. in missiology at the same Pontifical University, it was the Italian Church, through the "Missionary Cooperation between Churches" which supported me in order to complete my doctoral research in missiology. My specialization was “Missionary Pastoral”. What about the PSSPA?
“The Society of St. Peter the Apostle promotes, in Christian communities, the awareness of the need to develop local clergy and consecrated life in recently founded missionary Churches.
It animates and coordinates missionary collaboration in all the local Churches, through the offering of prayer, sacrifices and alms, to support the formation of future priests and men and women religious of young Churches, and the necessary preparation of their formators.
It collects and distributes financial aid to support seminaries and novitiates, in collaboration with local Christian communities and under the guidance of their pastors”.
We can then understand that by giving your offering or praying, you are contributing to the formation of future priests, men and women religious of the young Churches. Today, according to AGENZIA FIDES statistics (http://www.fides.org/.../66809-VATICAN_Les_statistiques...), priests of the young churches, like FIDEI DONUM or MISSIONARIES, are to support the churches of old tradition. IT IS THEREFORE NECESSARY AND IMPERATIVE TO ENCOURAGE THIS MISSIONARY RECIPROCITY IN MISSIONARY COOPERATION BETWEEN THE CHURCHES OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. We have for example the Churches of Africa, Asia and South and Central America which support the Churches of America and Europe in personnel (priests, men and women religious).
"The economic collaboration of the Society of St. Peter the Apostle is achieved through the ORDINARY SUBSIDIES for the maintenance of seminarians and novices; EXTRAORDINARY SUBSIDIES for the construction of new seminaries, for the rehabilitation and self-financing projects of the existing ones; the "Holy Mass Intentions" to support formators, Scholarships for future formators. In this collaboration, THE FINAL OBJECTIVE OF PSSPA, like that of all the other Pontifical Societies, REMAINS THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL AND THE PROGRESS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD".
All this is the work of a son of the Church, His EXCELLENCY MONSIGNOR JULES-ALPHONSE COUSIN, of the Foreign Missions de Paris (MEP) who worked as Apostolic Vicar in southern Japan from 1855 and then Bishop of Nagasaki (1891). He needed priests for his local clergy, but he did not have sufficient economic possibilities to train them. He was sometimes obliged to refuse for lack of money with difficulty certain young people who were spiritually well disposed to follow Jesus-Priest. “Addressed by a benefactress, he will turn to the Bigard ladies through a letter written on June 1, 1889, and which will be the starting point for the foundation of the Society of St. Peter the Apostle”.
TO YOU MY PARISHIONERS OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, as you can understand, they are women, Jeanne and Stéphanie Bigard who will take care of the material support for the future priests of the local Churches of Monsignor Jules-Alphonse Cousin in Japan and other missionaries around the world. You too, MY DEAR SISTERS IN CHRIST OF SAINTS PETER AD PAUL, you can do as much to support the formation of future priests, men and women religious of young Churches in the world. But also, YOU CAN DO THE SAME FOR OUR LOCAL CHURCH HERE IN SALT LAKE CITY. The second point of our Diocesan Pastoral Plan speaks of this material support to our seminarians, our priests and our men and women religious.
TO ALL OF YOU DEAR PARISHIONERS OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, I INVITE YOU TO MORE GENEROSITY for the WORLD MISSION DAY. At all the Eucharistic celebrations on Saturday and Sunday, please, open your hands to offer to God what He has given you without cost: PRAYER AND MONEY. God Himself, THE VERY GOOD FATHER, WILL REWARD YOU A HUNDREDFOLD. By doing so, you are supporting the missionary work of the Universal Church. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND GOD BLESS YOU.
Father Sébastien SASA, PhD, MPA
Administrator of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church
West Valley City, UT
