All Catholic Mission projects seek to restore dignity for the people and communities supported and enabling them to be better equipped to deal with challenges in the future once the project ends.”
Catholic Mission operates through the international structure of the Catholic Church and is the Australian branch of the international Catholic network known as the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS).
All Catholic Mission projects seek to restore dignity for the people and communities supported and leave them better equipped to deal with challenges in the future once the project ends.
We have seven categories of projects, including:
Below are summaries of each category.
Browse the projects we support around the world and read stories from our missionaries on the field
Browse projectsAssigned to Catholic Mission through the PMS Universal Solidarity Fund (USF), dioceses and religious congregations around the world can apply to the USF to receive support. Notably, all these project requests originate from an existing community or work, often from a parish community or a religious congregation in missionary territories.
All funding applications must be made on PMS application forms and obtain the approval and signature of the diocesan bishop. The bishop sends these applications to the PMS International Secretariate in Rome before 15 December each year. The following year in May, all the National Directors of the 160 countries where PMS branches exists meet to approve which projects will receive funding.
Once this is decided, Catholic Mission is sent a list advising us of the projects we are funding for the year. These funds are transferred in August to each individual country on the list. The allocated bishop/s in the country then passes on the funding to each individual project.
Vatican allocation projects are grouped as the following based off the three societies that make up PMS:
The Society of the Propagation of the Faith, founded by Pauline Jaricot in 1822, covers our work with communities which funds the day-to-day running of local parishes and dioceses. These projects support the pastoral work of the young Church through subsidising construction (such as churches, chapels and presbyteries), healthcare (including clinics, hospitals, and training), and pastoral services, while also providing lay catechists with resources and compensation.
Founded by Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson in 1843, this work falls under the Society of the Holy Childhood. Our work with children seeks to ensure youth under the age of 15 all over the world access the care they deserve. These projects include supporting schools, rehabilitation centres, health and nutrition programs, providing rosaries, running religious activities, and care for pregnant mothers.
Founded by Jeanne Bigard in 1889, our work with Church leaders supports the future of religious life around the world. At the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle (SPA), many of these projects work with seminarians and novices. These emerging leaders will walk together with their communities, offering guidance and advocating for those in need. Every seminarian in mission territories around the world receive support through SPA.
These partnerships are formed either through our work within the PMS, or through a missionary reaching out to us directly through established channels.
We aim to build local capacity and address immediate needs, supporting missionaries who need assistance in overcoming challenges in their community.
These projects are implemented through Catholic Mission’s project lifecycle.
Catholic Mission’s Impact Investing Program is unique. There are many versions of Impact Investing around the world. Using a mission-centred lens, our version of Impact Investing seeks to reflect the parable of the loaves and fish creating projects focused multiplying financial and social impacts, creating a shared value for all involved.
At its simplest, our Impact Investing program uses your generous gift in a cyclical pool of funds to support projects which focus on generating a positive social impact for the community alongside creating financial impact.
The financial impact generated by these projects are directed back into a pool managed by Catholic Mission. This pool of funds is then used to fund additional projects with similar goals. The idea is to create a sustainable cycle where the initial investment continually supports new initiatives, amplifying the positive impact over time.
Like the parable of the loaves and fish, impact investing seeks to move from scarcity into abundance. This miracle provided enough food for everyone with leftovers, ensuring that the benefit continued beyond the immediate need. The recycling nature of our Impact Investing fund allows a similar outcome, resulting in a sustainable pool of funds.
Impact Investing projects are key in supporting local churches and communities to become more self-sustainable and vibrant. Ultimately enabling them to have the means to respond to needs at the local level and shift away from relying solely on support from abroad.
By empowering and equipping the local Church and local missionaries to address the needs in their community long term, these projects address the core principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). In a report by Felipe Witchger and Elizabeth Garlow (2021) the CSTs when applied to impact investing were put into three categories. The first combined subsidiarity and a preferential option for the poor which, when done correctly, results in connecting deeply with communities, ensuring good governance and increased accountability. The second sees solidarity, the universal destination of goods, and integral ecology become leaving a place better than you found it, building local capacity to address local needs. The final category merges the common good and integral human development which allows for a fair balance of risk for all those involved, project partners and supporters alike.
The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has reiterated that Impact Investing is an avenue for supporters who want to align with CST values:
“Impact investors are those who are conscious of the existence of serious unjust situations, instances of profound social inequality and unacceptable conditions of poverty affecting communities and entire peoples.”
As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting mission in remote and rural parishes and dioceses in Australia, Catholic Mission continues to provide financial support to communities in Australia in consultation with local Bishops and missionaries on the ground. Currently, projects are funded in the dioceses of Geraldton, Port Pirie, Wilcannia-Forbes, Townsville, and Darwin. Catholic Mission has been supporting projects in Australia for 186 years.
