The girls at Saint Athanasius School in Zambia say, "Thumbs up!" for clean water! Thanks to donors to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, a well was dug and a pump installed. The result? Improved health and sanitation and more time spent in the classroom. This hygienic, convenient source of water means it is no longer necessary to walk the long, dangerous distance to and from the closest, but contaminated, water source.

A woman in Peru gives her stamp of approval to the elder care program at her local parish, made possible by your generosity to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Every day, senior citizens can have a hot meal, a shower, and a place to sit and make crafts, enjoying each other's company in a safe environment. They catch up on family news and build their personal community. Without this project, most of them would sit alone at home without companionship or activity.

It's "A-OK" with these boys in Papua New Guinea -- they are delighted to have a visitor tour their school and church. Both structures were made possible because you put The Society for the Propagation of the Faith on your Christmas list. Because of the education and faith formation they receive, these children will have the opportunity to become productive, faith-filled citizens. Without the church and school, the boys would have followed generations before them who found themselves illiterate and jobless.

Around the world, missionaries depend on your sustaining help to do their lifesaving, faith-affirming work. Your gift to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith -- Pope Francis' own mission society -- is fundamental to their ministries.

This Christmas season, when you offer $60, $2 a day for all of Advent, you provide a religious Sister with the tools she needs to serve children. Your gift of $100 in the hands of a mission priest allows more people to receive the Sacraments. A donation of $1,000 sends a small army of lay catechists riding bicycles into rural mission villages to proclaim the Good News.

YOU are the gift the missions are waiting for this Christmas! Join us as we support missionaries around the world!¬



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