Everyone sing along! It's the most wonderful time ... of the year! Can you hear the bells ring as you hum the tune? I know that the song has already been co-opted from Christmas to the "Back-to-School" shopping days as parents happily ride their shopping carriages through the aisles picking up notebooks and pens, readying little ones for another year in class.

For those of us in the mission ministry, we sing the song right about now for a different reason: the missionaries are coming! Each year, we are privileged to administer the Missionary Cooperative Program on behalf of our Archbishop, Cardinal Sean O'Malley. The purpose of the program, adopted years ago by the US Bishops' Conference, is to guarantee that the mission message is proclaimed in every parish at least once a year.

We receive hundreds of letters of application from bishops, priests, religious sisters and brothers, and lay missioners all asking for the opportunity to come to our Archdiocese and share the stories of their ministry. It takes quite a bit of reading, talking, and praying to make the assignments as equitable as possible for all involved. Did a parish hear about India last year? Let's send them someone from South America this time. Was their most recent missionary a religious or a layperson? A priest would be a good follow-up.

This year, you may hear stories of Sri Lanka from Bishop Raymond. You'll fall in love with this kind, gentle shepherd who ministers to about 10,000 Catholics spread across an area the size of the Archdiocese of Boston. Imagine his commute to a parish for a Confirmation! Sister Lisa Valentini, MSC will be in town to remind everyone that the heart of His mission is Love -- and to make sure you remember, she'll sing it to you.

Father Sean McGillicuddy, a Redemptorist priest, will speak on behalf of the work his brother Father Pat is doing in Brazil helping older street boys get off drugs, finish their education, and become the productive people that God meant them to be. Priests from the missions who minister here in the Archdiocese of Boston will speak on behalf of our Society of St. Peter Apostle; we give $700 annual scholarships to every mission seminarian. It can fairly be said that no priest in the missions would be ordained without The Society of St. Peter Apostle.

Wherever your visitor hails from, please say hello! Ask questions about what its like to be a Catholic in their country. Pray with them. You may just walk away humming a certain tune ...



- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.