The Office of Propagation of the Faith

Led by Deacon Omar F. A. Gutiérrez, The Office of Propagation of the Faith seeks to support Catholic missionary efforts around the globe. Learn about our ongoing progams below.

About The Office of Propagation of the Faith

The Pontifical Mission Societies was founded in 1822 by Blessed Pauline-Marie Jaricot. A spiritual directee of St. Jean-Marie Vianney and a third order Dominican, she wished to found a society which would collect funds for the work of the Church in missionary lands. Her society, known then as the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, sought to support Catholic missionary efforts around the globe. Since then, the Pontifical Missionary Societies at the Vatican includes her Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Missionary Childhood Association, the Society of St. Peter Apostle (which supports seminarians in missionary lands) and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious or PIME.

The Archdiocese of Omaha benefited from the work of Blessed Pauline when European missionaries, funded by the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, came here to middle America to help build our church. And so the legacy of Blessed Pauline and others continues through this office in more ways than one. Now we have the opportunity to give and help fledgling Catholic communities around the world through World Mission Sunday and the Missionary Cooperation Plan. To learn more about the Pontifical Mission Societies visit www.missio.org.

If you are a missionary diocese or organization interested in participating in our Missionary Cooperation Plan or you are a bookkeeper for a parish and would like to learn about reporting donations for World Mission Sunday or the Mission Cooperation Plan, you will find more information below.

If you are interested in aiding projects oversees connected to the Catholic Church but not involved with World Mission Sunday or the Cooperation Plan, please contact:

Deacon Omar F. A. Gutiérrez
Director, Society for the Propagation of the Faith
missions@archomaha.org
402-558-3100 ext. 3012

In everything, remember that we are called to love as Christ loved, and to serve as He served by laying down our lives for our neighbor.

World Mission Sunday

We celebrate World Mission Sunday each year as a day set aside for Catholics across the United States and around the world to recommit our missionary hearts in support of our evangelizing mission.

World Mission Sunday is one day with a year-long mission. As a key source of financial assistance for priests, religious, and lay leaders in the missions, World Mission Sunday provides the funds that build churches and supports the proclamation of the Gospel in some 120 countries around the globe. The collection for World Mission Sunday is always the fourth weekend in October.

If you are a bookkeeper or business manager for your parish and would like to know how to handle and record this collection, please see this helpful document.

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Mission Cooperation Plan

The Mission Cooperation Plan or Mission Co-op, is a yearly program throughout the U.S. which gives members of missionary dioceses, societies, and religious orders the opportunity to visit our parishes, tell their stories, and raise funds for their work. The missionaries typically visit a parish between May and September. A missionary organization will reach out to this office with an application which is reviewed in January of the year in question. Decisions for participation are made in February. Missionaries are required to agree to certain rules before they are assigned a grouping of parishes. Those groupings are based on historical donation averages and geography. The missionaries will then set up a time with the pastor in order to preach at all the Masses on a given weekend. For those parishes with several churches, it may require two visits by the missionary. A second collection is taken up for the missionary organization and sent to the Office of the Propagation of the Faith. 

If you are a bookkeeper or business manager for your parish and would like to know how to handle and record this collection, please Click Here.

If you are a missionary interested in participating in the Mission Co-op, please follow these steps:

Mail via post a formal letter (on letterhead) from your ordinary, president, superior, or provincial requesting participation in the Missionary Cooperation Plan in the Archdiocese of Omaha. That letter must include the following information:

  1. The year being requested
  2. The name and contact information of the individual within the United States who will be coordinating the mission. That person must have a
  3. phone number and an email address.
  4. The sort of project(s) that will be funded by the money raised during the mission appeal.
  5. If any of the visiting priests speak Spanish, please do mention this

The letter must be sent to the Propagation of the Faith Office at Chancery address below by December 31st of the year prior to the one being requested.

Mail To: 

Society for the Propagation of the Faith
Attn: Dcn. Omar F. A. Gutiérrez
2222 N. 111th Street
Omaha, NE 68164

Because we are a rural diocese and our priests often use the weekend of the visit to take some time off, we require that the missionary organization provide a priest to cover the Masses at which the missionary will be seeking support. If you are a lay organization, a religious order of women, or an order of brothers, we would still love to welcome you, but you must provide a priest for the Mass.

If you have any further questions, please contact me at missions@archomaha.org or at 402-558-3100 ext. 3012