Diocese of Lansing | Office of Missions

Welcome to the Office of Missions

Mass Stipends

Missionaries are experiencing first hand the drastic decline of Mass Stipends and are in critical need of support. Please consider sending any amount to help assist them, as they humbly serve the poorest of the poor. If you would like to provide a very important source of spiritual and financial support, please do so by sending a check made payable to the "Office of Missions" at 228 North Walnut Street, Lansing, MI 48933, where your gift will be forwarded to a missionary.

How we make M.C.A. Appeal Assignments

Throughout the year, a couple hundred missionary request letters accumulate. Each letter is reviewed and considered for the Missionary Cooperative Appeal Program based on written documentation, if included. Randomly, the internet is used to look up further information.

Every August, a letter is sent to each parish pastor asking if they would like to make a specific Missionary Cooperative Appeal Request. Each parish pastor is asked that it include mission name, name of contact person, address, telephone/fax number and/or e-mail address. Approximately 4 weeks is allotted for a pastor to return their request to the mission office.

If a request has been made, a letter is sent to the missionary to confirm their interest in coming to give an appeal within the Diocese of Lansing during a week-end between the months of June through September the following year. The missionary must agree to follow the diocesan policy and guidelines which is included. Plus, provide a “Letter of Suitability” from their superior to be on file in the Office of Missions prior to their entrance, as well as, notification of the form in which the mission office will forward monies due. (Policy: No paper checks will be sent out of the continental United States. Therefore, a banking wire transfer is done.)

Missionary Cooperative Appeal Assignments are made for all other parish pastors who did not make a request. These assignments are made with geographic location and size of the parish in mind. This helps the missionary plan for an efficient and most cost effective way to travel. Pastors are also informed that most missionaries will have two parishes within the diocese and will likely need back to back week-ends as they move in to and out of the diocese.

All dates of Missionary Cooperative Appeals are recorded in the Office of Missions as they are reported from the parish and/or missionary.

When the appeal is complete, a memo and collection envelope is sent to the parish from the mission office. (These have proven to work very well.)

Once the parish has forwarded the collection monies due to the Office of Missions, the parish is credited. Then, a check request or wire transfer is requested to complete the transaction.

Bookkeepers

Important Information on Mission Appeals

Just for Kids

"Bread of Life" Web-based Mission Education Module

Pastor Information

Attention All Parish Pastors/Administrators

Special Collection Dates

2010 Collection Dates

2009 Collection Dates

2008 Collection Dates

2007 Collection Dates