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A parochial mission or parish mission is a special pastoral effort in the Catholic Church aimed at preaching to and instructing Catholic followers. These are "home missions" geared toward Catholics, distinguished from apostolic missions to make conversions among non-believers. Such missions may consist of systematic preaching and instruction, extending over a stated number of days, performed by authorized missionaries.
Until the beginning of the seventeenth century there existed no organized form of Catholic popular missionary work, as it is now understood. The preaching, for example, of the mendicant orders, was not reduced to a system until the foundation of the Congregation of Priests of the Mission by Vincent de Paul. That was in France; in Italy, a century later (1732), Alphonsus Liguori founded his congregation of Redemptorists. About one hundred years later Gaspar Bufalo (died 1837) founded in Rome the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood to devote itself exclusively to parochial mission work.
The work was taken up by other orders whose primary end was different: the Jesuits, who were the foremost, the Dominicans, Franciscans, Capuchins. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, a new impetus was given to missionary work by the Abbé Forbin-Janson, who, with his friend the Abbé de Rauzan, founded the Missionaires de France, and by Charles de Mazenod, who founded the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, at Marseille, in 1815. In Germany parochial missions had been given sporadically, chiefly by the Jesuits and the Redemptorists, before 1848; after that date they became more general. The bishops everywhere encouraged and urged them. The Cardinal Archbishop of Mechlin, in 1843, maintained that the people of every parish are entitled to have the benefit of a mission. During this period the German Church had missionaries who devoted themselves entirely to popular mission work: Peter Roh, Klinkhofström, Pottgieser. On the expulsion of the Jesuits, Redemptorists and other orders from the German Empire, in 1872, there was an interruption.
In Italy systematic mission work was introduced by the Lazarists during the lifetime of their founder. With the rise of the Redemptorists, the Passionists, the Fathers of the Precious Blood, and several other congregations, the work spread over the entire peninsula. In Austria they developed during the reign of Maria Theresa, but under her successor, Emperor Joseph II, missions were to a great extent prohibited, and missionaries banished. The Redemptorists were recalled, but could labour only on condition of submitting to official scrutiny. After the Revolution of 1848 had spent itself that the Redemptorists, Jesuits, Capuchins, and Franciscans carried on the work of missions, especially in Bohemia and the Tyrol, in Westphalia, Bavaria, and Württemberg. On the expulsion of the Jesuits and Redemptorists, missions were again prohibited. Later, however, Capuchins and Franciscans took up the work, and diocesan priests also entered the field as missionaries and directors of retreats. In 1786, Clement Mary Hofbauer, second founder of the Redemptorists, with his friend Thadäus Hübl, founded a house of the congregation in Warsaw, where King Stanislaus Poniatowski placed the German national church of St. Benno at their disposal.
After the death of Alphonsus Liguori, his missionaries evangelized the Catholics in the Russian Provinces of Courland and Livonia, on the invitation of Ferdinando Maria Saluzzo , Apostolic Nuncio in Poland. In Belgium and in the Netherlands the missionary spirit has, with one or two slight interruptions, always been active. The Lazaristsin Great Britain as early as 1640, but penal laws made organized mission work impossible; it resumed about 1850.
In Ireland, missions were recommended by national and provincial synods—e. g., by the Plenary Synod of Thurles, in 1850; by the Synods of Cashel, 1853, and of Tuam, 1854, and the Plenary Synod of Maynooth, 1875. In England they were recommended by the Provincial Council of Westminster, in 1852, and again in 1859; in Scotland by the Plenary Council of 1886. The Plenary Council of Australia, held at Sydney in 1885, and, in Canada, the Provincial Council of Quebec, in 1863, strongly urged parochial missions.
In the United States there was no systematic popular missionary work until about 1860, though missions had been given earlier. The Lazarist Fathers arrived in 1816, the Redemptorists in 1832, and the Passionists in 1852; but the scarcity of priests meant that at first the ordinary spiritual wants of a scattered population took priority. In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI sent the Abbé Forbin-Janson on a missionary tour through the United States, where, for two years, he gave missions to the people and retreats to the clergy. In the Second Provincial Council of Cincinnati (1858), the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866), and the Tenth Provincial Council of Baltimore (1869), parochial missions were strongly recommended. Among the more active missionaries of this period were Fathers Smarius, Weninger, Damen, D. Young, O.P., and Hewit.
"Diocesan apostolates" are groups of priests, selected from the secular clergy, trained for mission work with special reference to the conversion of non-Catholics. They are exempted from ordinary pastoral work, and held in readiness to give missions whenever needed. Under various names—as "Apostolic Missionary Band", "Diocesan Mission Band", etc. -- the system became established in the Archdioceses of New York, St. Louis, St. Paul, and San Francisco, and the Dioceses of Alton, Burlington, Oklahoma, Peoria, Pittsburg, Providence, Richmond, San Antonio, Scranton, and Wheeling.
A pastoral council is a consultative body in dioceses and parishes of the Catholic Church that serves to advise the parish priest or bishop about pastoral issues. The council's main purpose is to investigate, reflect and reach conclusions about pastoral matters to recommend to the parish priest or bishop as appropriate.
The Catholic Church in Thailand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men. It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people around Naples. It is dedicated to missionary work and they minister in more than 100 countries. Members of the congregation are Catholic priests and consecrated religious brothers.
Alphonsus Liguori, CSsR, sometimes called Alphonsus Maria de Liguori or Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732.
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Gennaro Maria Sarnelli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Redemptorists. Sarnelli was one of Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori's earliest companions and a prolific writer on a range of religious topics. He wanted to become a Jesuit though was dissuaded from this before working in the Hospital of the Incurables where he call to the priesthood blossomed. His apostolic zeal knew no limits: he preached missions and aided his friend Liguori in his work; he tended to the sick and helped to get girls out of prostitution despite the threats levelled against him.
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Anthony Konings was a Redemptorist professor, who wrote works of theology which influenced Catholic life in late nineteenth century America.
William Hickley Gross, C.Ss.R., was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He served as Bishop of Savannah (1873–1885) and Archbishop of Oregon City (1885–1898).
Peter Paul Lefevere, or Lefebre, was a 19th-century Belgian born bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He was a missionary priest in the states of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa before he served as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Detroit in the state of Michigan from 1841-1869.
Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, CM is an Ethiopian prelate of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, which he has headed since his election as Ethiopian Catholic Archbishop of Addis Abeba in 1999. He is also the chancellor of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015.
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Juan Campos Rodríguez was a Galician writer, translator, missionary and Catholic priest who belonged to the Redemptorist Congregation. He spent over 15 years as a missionary in Sichuan, western China, until he had to flee the country after the communist revolution. He then lived for a while in Hong Kong and Macau before settling down in Singapore, where he worked as a priest until he died at the age of 88.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Catholic Parochial Missions". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites: