Consider Father Ruffino Ezama’s journey. Father Ruffino was born into a Northern Uganda community during a time of great upheaval in the 1970s. He was baptized by a Comboni missionary, confirmed by a Comboni bishop, and educated at a school they founded. He was raised to love God and the Church, and he felt a spiritual calling from a very young age. The event that transformed his already-deep faith was a tragedy. At age nine he lost his father on Christmas Eve.

“Growing up,” remembers Father Ezama, “I used to think the most important feast in the Church was Christmas, because there was the possibility of having a good meal and drinking a soda.” He recalls, though, “that Dec. 25” when “the whole world was around the crib celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ,” but his family was around his father’s casket.  “Through this sorrow,” he explains,         “I came to understand the newly born Jesus, Emmanuel-God, with us as a God Who is with us all the times of our lives till the end of days.”

Consoled by his mother’s unwavering faith, Father Ezama found hope in the promise of Easter. When he had a conversation with a classmate who lamented he could only attend Mass once every eight or nine months, he discovered his vocation: bringing the Eucharist and the hope of Christ to all who hunger for it. His work is a fruit of the mission of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which spreads the Gospel of Jesus Christ and supports missionary work in territories where the Church is growing rapidly but resources are scarce. Through support of the Missionary Cooperative Plan appeal weekend, the faithful can not only help bring aid and relief to those in need but also fulfill the call to missionary discipleship.

Missionary Cooperation Plan Appeal

June 28-29, 2025

One of the diocesan efforts to promote mission awareness and spiritual union with mission efforts is the diocesan Missionary Cooperation Plan (MCP). Because of the many needs of new churches in underdeveloped countries — needs that are as urgent today as in any other period in history — each diocese in the United States selects missionary dioceses, religious congregations, or lay missionary organizations to support.

Locally, the support of missionary groups is coordinated by Father Raymond J. Remke, diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, with the endorsement of Bishop Raica.

Through the generous self-giving of many faithful throughout the diocese, these missionary dioceses and other evangelizing groups receive help to support their ongoing work in sharing the Gospel through various projects. For example, past funds that have been raised in the diocese have gone to help in a variety of ways from the construction of school structures, bathroom facilities, and water wells to the payment of teacher salaries and tuition for seminarians. Due to the desperate situation that some of these dioceses face, every dollar given is extremely important.

No amount is too small to make an enormous difference in the lives of others. All funds collected through the appeal are sent directly to the chosen missionary groups. This year’s appeal, which will take place the weekend of June 28-29, will support the projects of the Diocese of Aguascalientes in Mexico, the Diocese of Irinjalakuda in India, the Diocese of Kumba in Cameroon, the Diocese of Maiduguri in Nigeria, the Diocese of Matagalpa in Nicaragua, the Diocese of Warangal in India, and the Consolata Sisters.