As director of the Pontifical Mission Societies of the Diocese of Buffalo: The Propagation of the Faith, Society of St. Peter Apostle, and Missionary Childhood Association, in the spirit of Psalm 105:1, "Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known His deeds among the peoples," kindly accept my gratitude for the different ways you have joined in faith with your sisters and brothers around the world this past year in mission.

The main responsibility of this office is to promote the necessity and the value of mission-centered expressions and practices of our faith. Each year we invite all our diocesan parish communities to share in the work of our universal Church by celebrating and contributing to World Mission Sunday. It is our custom each year to honor the people from our diocesan family who have given a lifetime of support to our Church's missions. My sincere gratitude to you for the Mass intentions, legacies, personal and designated donations as they help our office fulfill its faithful mission.

Every year during summer months, it is our pleasure to invite mission priests, women and men, religious, lay missionaries and mission organizations to Buffalo in order to share their incredible and powerful ministry stories, as well as give each of our parish communities the opportunity of supporting their efforts. This is known as Mission Cooperative.

This office also helps to facilitate the mission outreach for Latin America and Catholic Home Missions which the conference of Catholic Bishops' requests that we support. It is my responsibility to give Bishop Richard J. Malone and the people of our diocese an accounting of the contributions received in these our missionary efforts.
Each year it has been with great excitement that I forward the immense generosity of our diocese to our national office which is charged with the responsibility of the distribution of these funds to approximately 1,150 mission dioceses around the world. In the name of each and every bishop and their own faithful people, "Thank you."