Missions

The Church is missionary by its nature. Catholics seeking to understand their baptismal call to mission benefit from opportunities to deepen their faith and missionary vocation. The Office of Missions promotes a universal missionary spirit in the hearts and minds of the people of God through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Missionary Childhood Association and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

Donate to Missions

Local Mission Groups Serving in the Archdiocese

“For the Gospel cannot be deeply grounded in the abilities, life and work of any people without the active presence of laymen. Therefore, even at the very founding of a Church, great attention is to be paid to establishing a mature, Christian laity.” – Ad Gentes: the Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church

• Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (Cap Corps)

The Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps offers men and women the opportunity to serve in full-time positions that uplift the poor, vulnerable and marginalized, while living simply in an intentional community with other volunteers and accompanied by the joyful fellowship of the Capuchin Friars. Embracing the spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi and his example of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is central to this experience of community and service.

• Franciscan Mission Service (FMS)

Franciscan Mission Service prepares and supports lay Catholics for two-year international or one-year domestic service opportunities in solidarity with impoverished and marginalized communities across the globe. As Franciscan followers of Christ, we build partnerships with Catholic women and men who are inspired to live and serve in solidarity with economically poor communities– and to bring the transformative experience of mission to North American societies and churches as advocates for peace, justice, reconciliation and care of creation.

• Good Shepherd Volunteers

Good Shepherd Volunteers recruits, educates, and supports full-time volunteers who use their God-given talents to serve women, adolescents, and children affected by poverty, violence, and neglect in domestic and international placements. Our volunteers live out the four tenets of social justice, simplicity, spirituality, and community, and are encouraged to maintain a commitment to these principles for a lifetime. Good Shepherd Volunteers, founded by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is dedicated to honoring the sisters’ core values of individual dignity, mercy, reconciliation, and zeal.

• Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC)

JVC is a post-graduate volunteer program that places young adults to live and work in solidarity with marginalized populations across the United States, guided by seventy years of history and four core values: spirituality, simple living, community, and social justice. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps, through solidarity and service with local communities, fosters the formation of young people dedicated to a faith that promotes justice.

• A Simple House of Sts. Francis and Alphonsus

A Simple House serves project and Section 8 neighborhoods in southeast Washington, DC and Kansas City, MO. Their work involves meeting people in their neighborhoods and in their homes. Missionaries strive to meet the material and spiritual needs of the poor. While missionaries serve at A Simple House, they live a simple religious life.

Men’s and Women’s Religious

“Religious men and women likewise, by their prayers and by their active work, play an indispensable role in rooting and strengthening the Kingdom of Christ in souls, and in causing it to be spread.” – Ad Gentes: the Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church

While not every religious order was founded specifically to be a missionary order, all orders are missionary through their witness, prayers, and baptismal call.

In 2018, Pope Francis shared, “In Christ, our life is a mission! We are mission, because we are God’s love poured out, God’s holiness created in his own image. Mission, then, is our own growth in holiness and that of the whole world, beginning with creation (cf. Eph 1:3-6). The missionary dimension of our Baptism thus becomes a witness of holiness that bestows life and beauty on our world.”

Please refer to the Consecrated Life webpage for more information about the many religious communities serving The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.