Mission Education
Find ways to bring Mission into your classroom, church, or community!
Our St. Cloud Diocese and the Mission Office provide numerous ways for you to incorporate Mission Education into your ministry, ranging from our Speakers Bureau, to classroom resources, continuing education, global connections, and more. Many schools, parishes, families and groups have had wonderful and very powerful experiences with providing mission education programming for their group. Why not be among them?
Teresa Trout is the Mission Education Coordinator for the Mission Office. Much of her role is about promoting Mission Education throughout the diocese. If you have questions or are interested in learning more about how you can be incorporating Mission Education into your program, please feel free to reach out to her by calling the Mission Office or emailing her at missionofficeeducator@cloudnet.com
For those who recognizing the importance of this call to mission and mission education in their school and parish, who would like to begin investing in this area of our faith and formation, it’s easy to do. And, of course, we’ll help you every step of the way!
Mission Education is an important aspect of all levels of our Catholic faith formation. This means EVERYONE needs it, not just kids. That includes adults, community members, diocesan staff, and all parishioners.
Mission Education can include a large variety of things, such as: special multi-cultural or mission liturgies and prayer services, service projects, partnering with other schools/parishes/groups in the world or learning about our current partnerships, experiencing cultural meals, dances, songs, games, etc.
Mission education programming often easily fits into your exiting parish or school programming and events. Mission education relates to nearly every subject and area of parish life.
Incorporating Mission Education into your programming is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
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Look at your parish, school or group’s purpose and goals. Find ways in which mission, global, peace and justice-awareness and activities would help you meet your goals.
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Look at your calendar, curriculum and plans. Find ways in which different mission-focused speakers or activities may fit in naturally, or times when additional events may enhance your existing programming.
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Contact the Mission Office to share your ideas and request help fulfilling your mission education programming needs. Contact us with questions, comments, needs or ideas, or stop by the Mission Office today to check out the many opportunities available for you and to get started arranging for your mission education dream to become a reality!
Missionary Childhood Association
The Missionary Childhood Association (formerly known as Holy Childhood) is the organization especially geared for connecting kids in mission. Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) helps to animate children in kindergarten through eighth grade to a universal missionary spirit and to gather funds from these young people for the support of mission efforts that serve the poorest of the world’s children. Kids helping kids!
It is one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies that the Holy Father asks every Catholic diocese throughout the world to participate in. These various societies do fundraising, prayer and other sacrificial support for the young churches and dioceses in the world still in need of financial assistance. They help us have a concrete way we can participate in the building up of the Catholic Church in the world, and a way we can live-out our Christian call to mission and global solidarity!
Young people are encouraged to participate in Missionary Childhood through three basic areas; learning, prayer, and sacrifice.
The learning comes in through their variety of curriculum and materials. The St. Cloud Diocese also encourages schools and parishes to invite speakers in to share first-hand with students what life is like in other cultures and what mission is all about. Contact the Mission Office if you’re interested in helping bring learning to life for your young people.
While students are always encouraged to pray for other young people around the world, there is a special Prayer Week designated each March when students in the U.S. pray for our world. Also, the first Friday of October each year is Missionary Childhood Day, in which our St. Cloud Diocese celebrates World Mission Rosary day by praying the World Mission Rosary in our homes, parishes and schools sometime throughout the day. Our friends in Kenya and Venezuela do the same on the same day – so people on three different continents across the globe are praying for one another and our world – that’s got to make a huge impact!! Learn more on our World Mission Rosary page. Sacrifice is encouraged through financial or gift sharing, as well as through simplifying our lifestyle in recognition of the needs of others. Contact the Mission Office for fun and creative ideas to encourage sacrifices your group can make in support of other young people all over the world
Mission Education Resources
The Mission Office offers a huge variety of ideas and help in finding the Mission Education components right to meet the needs of you and your school, parish or group. Just a few of the many resources we have include books, cultural items, mission posters, artifacts, etc., mission-related web links and activities pages for youth, and service project or fundraiser ideas.
Personal attention and planning
Of all the things the Mission Office can help you with in your mission education journey, the best and most important is that we offer personal consultation and on-going support to any school, parish or group investing in Mission Education or Mission involvement. We are happy to meet with you or your staff to either find the right resources or activity for you, or to help in planning and implementing once you’ve determined the direction you’d like to go.
Why not combine the materials that provide the head-knowledge, with the people and activities that provide the heart-understanding? At the Mission Office, we will help you do both!
Mission Office Publications
Each month of the School year (September -May) the Mission Office puts out a Monthly Educators Bulletin which includes a reflection and resources for the Month. The Mission Office also puts out a quarterly Mission Connections newsletter with stories and updates on the mission activities in our diocese and our connections around the world. (These are not yet accessible through the website, please call or email to be added to the subscription list or view past copies). This can be a great way to look for resources, or to just stay updated about what is happening in Mission.
Speakers Bureau
The Diocesan Speakers’ Bureau is composed of a variety of volunteer and professional speakers. The Speakers Bureau can help with many different topics, countries, and activities. Host a speaker in conjunction with a service project or an intensive global awareness program with a series of on-going weekly lessons, music, songs, videos, cultural education, and ethnic foods given throughout a semester or school year.
The Speakers Bureau hopes to foster a greater appreciation of our faith’s global dimensions, while also providing opportunities for current and returned missioners to share their stories allowing them to continue growing in their faith as well. Please contact the Mission Office if you would like to host a speaker for an event or lesson!
Downloadable Resources to help you:
Here are several PDFs for you to download with further details and lists of the many, many options available to you for making Mission Education a part of your school, parish or group. Thank you for answering your baptismal call to mission, and the call of our Bishops to Mission Education! (If you have trouble opening any of these links please let us know!)
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Called to Mission Education (PDF) document
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Resources, Curriculum and Activity Ideas (PDF)(our most complete listing and guide to Mission Ed)
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Mission Office’s media library (PDF)
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Mission liturgy (PDF) planning aids
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Speakers-Bureau-Brochure (PDF)
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Speakers_Bureau_Topics (PDF) and countries
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Gift Projects (PDF) ideas for service or hands-on mission help
Or download some of these Lesson Plans and activities to use in your class or group:
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Hunger Banquet (PDF)
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CST (PDF) Catholic Social Teachings principles
Learn more about Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si (“Praise be to You”) on care for creation and one another by checking out these “Our Common Home” resources, brought to us by the Environmental Justice Project of Catholic Charities, in the Diocese of Stockton: https://ejstockton.org/parish for resources on Laudato Si and the environment for individuals, groups and parishes.