Fr. Roger Landry / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // Fr. Roger Landry, a perpetual pilgrim on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage this summer and the chaplain at Columbia University, has been appointed as the new National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA.
According to an article from The Pontifical Mission Societies USA, a National Director oversees the Society’s four charities and facilitates an annual collection for supporting the ministry.
The four charities, which are directly under the Pope, include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA), and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.
The article added that Fr. Landry has a background in “pastoral work, bioethics, youth ministry, and missionary activity.”
In addition to chaplaining at Columbia University and walking in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, Fr. Landry serves the Church as a permanent Missionary of Mercy. Pope Francis appointed him as such after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015, directing him to promote the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Fr. Landry said that it is a “great joy and tremendous honor” to accept the position.
“From the time I was a little child, I have loved the mission of the Church,” he said, according to the article. “I would go to bed reading about the great missionaries who gave their lives to spread the faith, so today I am overjoyed at the possibility of helping all those on the front lines through The Pontifical Mission Societies USA.”
“As Pope Francis has regularly reminded us, the Church doesn’t just have a mission; the Church is a mission, and each of us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we too don’t just have a mission; we are a mission on this Earth,” he added.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA’s Board of Directors, said in the article that the Board is “thrilled” about Fr. Landry’s appointment.
“His commitment to the mission of the Church and his extensive experience make him the ideal leader to guide TPMS USA in its efforts to support the global mission of evangelization,” said Cardinal Dolan, “particularly where the message of the Gospel has only recently been introduced, where the Church is materially poor and cannot sustain itself, and also where our brothers in the faith are persecuted.”
