Missio, The Association for the Propagation of the Faith and the Mill Hill Missionaries – www.missio.org.uk

The APF is part of the worldwide Missio network, the principal mission support organisation of the Catholic Church. Support from Missio is the foundation of the Church’s sharing of God’s love and helping millions of people live their lives with dignity and hope. Collections from the ‘Red Boxes’ and World Mission Sunday enable Catholics to share in spreading the Gospel in each of the 1,069 mission dioceses in the world.

Missio provides essential practical and spiritual support to new or poor faith communities until they are able to be self-sufficient. Above all, this is a work of universal solidarity. Missio Red Boxes have been part of Catholic homes for many years. These boxes are held in parishioners’ homes in Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye and make excellent containers for all that loose change which weighs heavily in pockets and purses. The money collected is for worldwide distribution to missionary societies, a partnership with APF, established in 1935.

In St. Mary’s Monmouth, there is a special link with the Mill Hill Fathers as they were founded in 1866 by Herbert Cardinal Vaughan the eldest of the Colonel and Elizer Vaughan of Courtfield who were closely associated with the parish.

The history of APF is much older, starting with collections of sous from factory girls in Lyon who prayed for the missionaries under the encouragement of Pauline Jariot, then only 17 years old. In 1822 the APF was established and made a Pontifical Society by Pope Pius XI in 1922.

• Missio focuses on four main areas:
• Caring for our Church family and sending missionaries
• Training future priests and sisters overseas
• Supporting children’s faith development projects
• Nurturing a worldwide missionary spirit

CONTACTS:

– St Frances of Rome: Veronica Amand

– St Mary’s: Martin Flach

Find out more by watching this short video.