Mission Cooperative Plan (MCP)

The Mission Cooperative Plan is a diocesan cooperative program that plays a vital role in sharing with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison about the worldwide evangelistic mission of the Church and how they can support the missions.
 

The Four Societies

The Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS) are a worldwide network at the service of the Pope that supports the missions and the Young Churches with prayer and charity. These include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

The four societies have been defined as “pontifical” since 1922, thus indicating their status as official instruments of the Pope and of the universal Catholic Church. Within the Catholic church, diocesan directors of The Pontifical Mission Societies lead the four societies and oversee the World Mission Sunday Collection, which is taken up in October of each year.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith provides support for the Evangelizing and pastoral efforts of mission dioceses, for catechists and catechesis, for the building of churches and chapels, and for the efforts of religious sisters and brothers who also facilitate that meeting with the Lord.

Pauline Marie Jaricot, inspired by letters about the Missions from her brother, Phileas, starts gathering together small groups – mostly workers in her family’s silk factory. She asked each member of the group to offer daily prayer and a weekly sacrifice of a sous (the equivalent of a penny at that time) for the Church’s worldwide missionary work. Pauline insisted that her efforts were meant to address all the Universal Church’s missions.

The Society of St. Peter the Aposle supports some 30,000 major seminarians, mostly in Africa and Asia. They receive an annual subsidy of $700 per student with support also sent for religious novices. When Jeanne Bigard, and her mother, Stephanie, learned the obstacles and difficulties the French bishop serving in Japan was enduring to provide for the more than 50 young men preparing for the priesthood, they began gathering funds to support those seminarians. In 1889, they established the Society of St. Peter Apostle to support mission vocations, both priestly and Religious. In the first year of its foundation, the Society of St. Peter Apostle aided approx. 2,700 seminarians.

The Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) is where children learn about and pray for children in the missions. Each year, support from MCA provides for more than 2 million children who are enrolled in catechesis and Christian formation programs, as well as more than 600,000 children from nursery school to secondary school.

One day in 1843, Bishop Forbin-Janson had a talk with Pauline Jaricot about his long-time dream of working with the poorest of the world’s children in the Missions. She suggested that he appeal to the children of France to help children around the world. As a consequence of this meeting, the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) was born. Today, MCA continues to follow the vision of Bishop Forbin-Janson – “children helping children”

The Pontifical Missionary Union aims to animate and form the faithful with a missionary spirit - a spirit that drives efforts in prayerful solidarity and financial support through the other three Pontifical Mission Societies. Unlike the other three, the Pontifical Missionary Union does not collect donations.

Father Paolo Manna, a PIME missionary in Italy, establishes the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious in 1916. This spiritual apostolate supports those engaged in catechesis and religious educations to help Catholics to better understand their baptismal responsibility for the Church’s missionary work.

How Can You Help?

• Pray daily for the Church’s mission work and invoke the intercession of St. Francis Xavier and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patrons of mission.
• Give generously during mission collections.
• Remember the Office of Mission and The Pontifical Mission Societies when writing or changing your will.

“The Pontifical Mission Societies serve the Church’s universality as a global network of support for the Pope in his missionary commitment by prayer, the soul of mission, and charitable offerings from Christians throughout the world.”

-POPE FRANCIS