Society Membership Trains the Church of Tomorrow

For many years, Catholics have followed the custom of enrolling themselves or their loved ones, living or deceased, in Membership in The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. By doing so, they give an ongoing gift to the new Member and to the missions. Membership means that the person enrolled receives the spiritual benefits of Masses said daily by mission priests; they are also included in the intentions of a daily Mass celebrated at the Vatican.

In many mission locations, funds from the Society are a substantial means of support. One such place is the Apostolic Vicariate of Puyo in Ecuador. In the small town of Canelos, Padre Patricio, ordained just six months, was put in charge of a complex of projects supported by our members.  Besides the parish, Padre Patricio also runs a day school for hundreds of young ones and a boarding school for teenagers – boys and girls.  The students receive a high school education along with faith formation and vocational training; girls learn to sew (even making the school’s own uniforms) and boys are taught to raise animals and crops. Padre even experimented with raising tilapia on the small training farm under his care. The day of our visit, it was a school holiday but the students were still there – their daily meal was also provided at the school by our Members.

  

For more information on 5 year, 10 year or Perpetual Enrollments (suggested offerings are $5 for 5 years, $10 for 10 years, and $50 for Individual and $100 for Family Perpetuals) please call 617-542-1776 or email [email protected].  Donors can also download our catalog at www.propfaithboston.org. Click on the Propagation of the Faith’s Mass Offerings/Enrollment page.

-Maureen Crowley Heil

The following people have been enrolled as Perpetual Members in

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith:

Thomas F. O’Connell, Virginia Blais, Thomas Cotter, Patti Page, Stan Musial, Earl Weaver, Robert H. Bork, Claire O’Malley, Rev. Walter F. Dirig, Hector Camacho, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, Dorothy A. Tuttle, Breton C. Young, Carl H. Lindner, Ruth McGuire, Andrew F. Gurley, Wayne Souza, Dom DeLuise, Gerald E. Dugas, Jose A. Luis, Daniel Dayton, Chuck Daly, William, Denise, Henry, Jane and Martin Richard, John Haggerty, Margaret Olivia Murphy, Russell L. Browne,Walt Hazzard, Richard Nadler, Peter Zezel,  Rev. Pat McCaffrey, Mr. & Mrs. William Moyne,  Angela Smith, Delores T. Baronas, bob Tero, Robert E. Foy, The Costello Family and Sr. Agnes Wan, Connie Ruggiero, Michael DeBakey, Penny L. Timbie, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, George McGovern,  Rev. Thomas E. Kelly, O.F.M., Rev. Matthew Conlin, O.F.M.

Transmitting the Legacy of Faith

Pope Francis

One of the recurring themes in the addresses and homilies of Pope Francis in his young papacy has been that of evangelization.  He constantly reminds his hearers and readers that the work of spreading the Gospel is the task and privilege of every baptized believer, whether clergy or laity.  This is a point that I emphasize in speaking to parents and godparents when I celebrate the sacrament of baptism.  Jesus tells us to “go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt. 28: 19)

Although this is the responsibility of every believer, we accomplish our task within in the community of faith, supporting one another in our journey.  In his reflection at the Angelus on July 7^th, the Holy Father speaks to this in a powerful way.

Jesus is not an isolated missionary, does not want to fulfill his mission alone, but involves his disciples.  Not only does he call the 12 apostles, the Holy Father noted, but  He calls seventy-two others, and sends them into the villages, two by two, to announce that the Kingdom of God is near.  This is very beautiful! Jesus does not want to act alone. He has come to bring to the world the love of God and wants to spread that love with a style of communion and fraternity. For this reason, he forms immediately a community of disciples, which is a missionary community.

It may surprise some of us that we are called to be missionaries in our own surroundings, using our talents and gifts within the community of faith, while looking beyond the narrow borders of our parish and archdiocese.  It may also seem like an enormous task, given the scope of the work to be done.  Nonetheless, our gift of faith is truly a legacy, an experience of life that is meant to be shared and the work to be seen as a work of personal witness.  As Pope Francis reminded the bishops of Brazil just a few days ago:

Concerning mission, we need to remember that its urgency derives from its inner motivation; in other words, it is about handing on a legacy. As for method, it is essential to realize that a legacy is about witness, it is like the baton in a relay race: you don’t throw it up in the air for whoever is able to catch it, so that anyone who doesn’t catch it has to manage without. In order to transmit a legacy, one needs to hand it over personally, to touch the one to whom one wants to give, to relay, this inheritance.

May each one of us see the challenge of evangelization, not as a burden, but as an exciting opportunity; the chance to hand on an inheritance more precious than any material possession.

-Rev. Rodney J. Copp, JCL