MONTHLY UPDATE
by Monsignor James T. McDonough
DIRECTOR, PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES-PHILADELPHIA

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week:
A Look at Missionaries spreading the Good News through Education

During the week of January 31, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will observe Catholic Schools Week.   We celebrate Catholic schools as “the Good News in Education.”  In over 1,000 Mission Dioceses worldwide, Missionaries are spreading the Good News.  In these areas, Catholic schools are a major evangelization tool.

During my days at Our Lady of the Rosary parish elementary school, the dedicated faculty of Sisters of St. Joseph taught me reading, writing and arithmetic, all in the context of our Catholic faith.  I learned the prayers and devotions of the Church, and how to make good moral decisions.  In the classroom and in the recess yard, I learned that Jesus loves me.  I learned the prayer, “My Jesus Mercy,” because it was a favorite of our first grade teacher, Sister St. Cornelius, SSJ.

Missionary Priests, Sisters, Brothers  and committed Lay Missioners model this same faith for children all over the world.  In the Missions, the Church operates some 63,000 kindergartens and 92,000 primary schools where the poorest of the world’s children learn about the love of Jesus and dare to dream of a better future.  Children in Mission Dioceses are receiving a Catholic education thanks to the prayers and sacrifices of the members of the Holy Childhood Association [HCA].   HCA, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, is devoted to “children helping children.”  Donations from our children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia help their peers in Mission lands.   Most of the programs supported by HCA are in Africa and Asia, although Mission Dioceses in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and the Pacific Islands also benefit greatly.

Children in Mission lands often attend class out in the open because of the lack of school buildings.  In 2008, HCA members helped build schools in Peru, Mongolia, and Nepal.  The sacrifices of our children in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia resulted in new kindergarten facilities in Ethiopia and Baghdad.  In rural areas, children may live too far from school to commute there daily.  For this reason, Catholic schools in Mission areas are often boarding schools. 

In many parts of the developing world, education, let alone Catholic education, is denied to children with special needs.  Mission schools fill this void, providing special education in countries from Kenya, Egypt, and Guinea in Africa to Sri Lanka and Nepal in Asia.   Girls are another group excluded from schools in some area.  The education of young women is a focus of many Mission schools.  For example, with support from the Pontifical Mission Societies, the Church in Nepal is able to offer education to 17,000 students, 9,000 of whom are girls.

Missionary Priests and Sisters provide a safe home as well as schooling for orphans in Mission Dioceses.  Their loving care for these children brings to life the Father’s love.  Donations from HCA members fund a kindergarten for war orphans in Eritrea, schooling for AIDS orphans in the Ivory Coast, and care for children orphaned by the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. 
Families in Mission Dioceses often lack enough nutritious food to keep their children healthy.  Many Mission schools offer lunch, and sometimes food to bring home for dinner.  HCA members support nutrition programs for children in places as diverse as Haiti, Bolivia, Jamaica, Kenya, Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Albania.

HCA is unique among organizations that assist children in the Developing World in that its primary aim is to encourage children to share their faith with children in the Developing World through their prayers, personal sacrifices and financial offerings.  All young Catholics have a baptismal responsibility to make Jesus Christ and His love known to others. HCA helps young people understand the universal nature of the Catholic Church and recognize that they are Missionaries today, in prayer and sacrifice, reaching out to children in the Missions. 

Find out more about HCA and how children, schools and individuals can help – click on the link on this page.

Remember, through prayer and acts of sacrifice, by your words and actions, you become a Missionary for the Lord. 

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