HCA Members: Angels to the Missions

For members of the Holy Childhood Association (HCA), prayer and sacrifice are a way of living their faith year round. Children in our local Catholic schools and parish religious education programs are taught through HCA that there are many different ways to sacrifice for children in the missions. They are also taught that these offerings are needed every day so missionaries may bring not only material support but most importantly, faith formation to children around the world.

HCA emails classroom - ready materials every month to schools and parishes - lesson plans on a missionary saint, prayer services, classroom facts and activities on a social issue facing children in the missions. We’ve addressed child labor, hunger, access to clean water and the life of child refugees to name a few. Stories and pictures of missionaries making a difference through support from HCA are included.

These worksheets, activities and pictures open a new world to our students: one of awareness of the conditions in which other children live. They are also a way to personalize the work of missionaries, showing that the work being done is happening because of real people devoting their life to our faith.

As part of our materials in December, students were asked to color in the outline of an angel and send it back to our office. We, in turn, sent them to the missions and asked for pictures of the recipient with their angel, if possible. Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri, Kenya and Bishop Raymond Kingsley Wickramasinghe of Galle, Sri Lanka received angels from St. Peter's Parish in Plymouth MA. The response from these two men was full of praise for the children in their outreach and gratitude for the acknowledgment of their daily efforts to spread the Gospel.

Bishop Wickramasinghe wrote, “I join with my diocesan family to pray for all those who contribute immensely for our well being and to proclaim the Love of God to the world.”

Archbishop Kairo singled out the child who signed the back of his angel saying “Thank Colin on my behalf for his prayers and assure him of my prayers for him and the other children.”

Sometimes, we can all fall into the rut of believing that the spread of our faith is done by some mysterious, unknown “others”. Holy Childhood members are being taught that this work belongs to all of us – sharing the Gospel of Jesus wherever we are and supporting those, with prayers and action, who do the same work in distant lands.

-Maureen Crowley Heil