The Pontifical Mission Societies

Later this year, the Church in the United States is going to have a great celebration. It’s going to be particularly special for those of us who care about the missions of the Church. 

It will take place on September 24 in St. Louis, Missouri, when Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be beatified. 

So many of us have been inspired by Archbishop Sheen — by his radio and television programs, by his books and articles, by his preaching, teaching and holy Catholic life. 

But the biggest impact Archbishop Sheen made in the life of the Church is his promotion of the Church’s missions. He repeated often, “My greatest love has always been for the missions of the Church.” 

During his 16 years as National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies from 1950 to 1966, he transformed missionary awareness among American Catholics. He also helped to raise $200 million for the missions — $2.1 billion in today’s money — which sustained thousands of dioceses, built tens of thousands of churches, formed millions of seminarians and religious, and educated hundreds of millions of children in the faith. 

Today, 2,000 years after Jesus died and rose from the dead, 5.5 billion of the 8.1 billion alive still are not Christian. Missionaries are generously giving their lives to help make them disciples, but they need our assistance. 

Please do your part to honor Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and help continue the mission work that he prioritized, by making your most generous donation today.

One great need, and one of the biggest priorities of Archbishop Sheen, was to help the missions build seminaries and convents where future leaders of the Church can be formed. Missionaries come to plant the Gospel, but the real growth of the Church in missionary lands happens when native priests and religious are able to replace them and free the missionaries to go elsewhere to bring Jesus. 

In Nigeria, you can find several of the seminaries and convents that Archbishop Sheen helped to build. One of them, Bigard Seminary — named after Jeanne Bigard, the foundress of the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies — has become the largest seminary in the world, with 714 seminarians!

But Bigard Seminary and other seminaries and convents in Nigeria and across the missionary world, while rich in vocations, are very poor and need a great deal of help to maintain their facilities, and to train and feed so many future priests and religious. They look to us with hope and are praying through soon to be Blessed Fulton Sheen’s intercession that we will be as generous as our parents and grandparents were during Sheen’s time. 

I would be grateful for any gift you choose to share today. Thank you. And as Archbishop Sheen used to say: “God love you!”

Sabrina Lopez

Archdiocesan Director