Missionary Childhood Association

The Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) is one of the Pontifical Mission Societies that operates in every diocese of the world under the papal statute:
 
“Convinced that children can be a spiritual and social force for a real transformation of the world, this Society aims at creating a movement of Christian children committed to helping other children” Pontifical Mission Societies Statute, 1-13.
 
Through this Society, the Holy Father elicits the zeal, love, and generosity of students to share their faith with young people in more than 1,110 mission dioceses throughout the world. MCA offers the opportunity for young people to share the Good News of God’s love and salvation. Children learn about their brothers and sisters in mission countries—children just like them. And they also discover that their own prayers, personal sacrifices, and financial help make a faith-filled difference for their mission family—and make them missionaries today.
 
MCA helps young Catholics to become more aware and appreciative of the multicultural dimension of the Church. It will ideally stress the connection between action, reflection and prayer. It should motivate youth to reject the values of the culture (individualism and materialism) and to appreciate and implement the values of Jesus (compassion and generosity).
 
Missionary initiation is also of one of the six tasks of catechesis as identified in the National Directory for Catechesis (2013, p. 62). All young Catholics have a baptismal responsibility to make Jesus Christ and His love known to others. But as children grow, their understanding and living out their Christian responsibility—to be evangelizers—do not magically appear when they reach adulthood. Faith and missionary discipleship must be nurtured in the same manner as reading or math.
 
The Program

Materials from the diocesan Missionary Childhood Association office assist educators in teaching children about the realities of the developing world through stories, activities and prayer.
Teachers and catechists are encouraged to use whatever MCA resources they can best fit into their individual schedules.
 
Each school is provided with:

• Prayer cards
• Posters
• Mite Boxes for collecting donations
• Information regarding the National MCA Christmas Artwork Contest
• Additional resources for classroom participation

 
Sacrifice is part of our commitment to be missionaries.

Whether it is a lesson on a mission saint, stations of the cross with a mission theme, or encouragement to pray the World Mission Rosary for mission children, membership in MCA brings our children to a greater understanding of not only how blessed they truly are but also how, through their Catholic faith, they are called to love and care for the less fortunate. MCA teaches them basic stewardship: each Catholic, regardless of age or station, has a responsibility to others. Certainly, prayer is something of which even the youngest is capable—but this is only one of the two pillars of MCA. The second, true sacrificial action, must follow.

 
How do children raise money for MCA?

Some children work in groups sponsoring walkathons, dress-down days, raffles, or other creative events. Some children make personal sacrifices by sending money that they received for chores or babysitting; others share their allowances or birthday gift money. Contributions should come from the student’s own sacrifice of time, talent, and treasure.

MCA offers mite (coin) boxes to students to encourage a spirit of sacrifice, but the fundraising component is secondary to catechesis and must always be combined with formation. Fundraising without faith formation does little to form life-long missionaries.
 
Along with the catechesis on mission and charity, schools are asked to encourage students to collect change for children world wide and return the mite boxes at the end of December.
 

What to do with monies collected for the missions?

In the Diocese of Austin, the MCA Mite Box Campaign takes place during Advent. Schools are asked to encourage children to take the mite boxes and collect contributions for the mission work of the Missionary Childhood Association. Additionally, religion education programs are encouraged to participate. Contributions should be sent directly to the Mission Office in the form of a check by Jan. 15.

Should you have pictures, stories or additional information that you collect during this campaign, please email it to the Mission Office so that we can recognize your efforts in the Catholic Spirit and social media.
 

How are contributions to MCA distributed?

Contributions to MCA are allocated to children’s projects in mission dioceses throughout the world according to need. Once each year, national directors of the world’s Pontifical Mission Societies meet in Rome to review requests for funding from mission dioceses throughout the world.

This system of allocating funds helps to ensure that aid is distributed fairly and that those who are most desperately in need receive enough support.

Can we designate a particular missionary organization or school as the recipient of our donations, or sponsor individual children?

Per MCA statutes, diocesan mission offices are not permitted to consider individual requests for funding. Instead, all donations are sent to the National MCA Office in New York to be added to the General Fund in Rome. This General Fund is important because it supports mission dioceses and schools that may be unknown and overlooked. Sometimes a particular mission has a great many private supporters, especially from the US, and does well in raising funds. The General Fund, however, also assists struggling institutions that do not have private support.