New York, NY – The Pontifical Mission Societies USA (TPMS USA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Father Roger J. Landry as the new National Director, effective January 2025. This appointment has been formally approved by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the pro prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, following the suggestion of the Board of Directors headed by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York.

Father Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and present Catholic Chaplain of Columbia University, brings extensive experience and a dynamic vision to TPMS USA. His background in pastoral work, bioethics, youth ministry, and missionary activity aligns perfectly with TPMS’s mission to support the global Church’s missionary efforts.

Father Roger J. Landry

Recently, Father Landry concluded a 65-day Eucharistic pilgrimage across the United States as part of the Eucharistic Revival and the 10th National Eucharistic Congress. He was the only priest who walked with Jesus during the entire pilgrimage, underscoring his dedication to bringing Christ to all corners of the world.

“The Board of Directors is thrilled to welcome Father Roger J. Landry as the new National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies,” said Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the TPMS USA Board of Directors. “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, 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.”

“It is a great joy and a tremendous honor to be asked to take on these new duties,” said Father Landry. “From the time I was a little child, I have loved the mission of the Church. 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.”

Father Landry is a Harvard College graduate and an alumnus of the Pontifical North American College in Rome and has been appointed by Pope Francis as a permanent Missionary of Mercy following the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy of 2015. He has served in various capacities, including Attaché to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, pastor, Chaplain at Columbia University, and executive editor of a diocesan newspaper. His work with Aid to the Church in Need USA and his leadership in organizing and participating in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage highlight his commitment to addressing the needs of the global Church.

About the Pontifical Mission Societies USA

The Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS) is a worldwide network at the service of the Pope to support the missions and the young Churches with prayer and charity. We help provide the moral support, prayer, and financial contributions that enable churches to be built, priests and nuns to receive formation during the various stages of their religious life, dioceses to be sustained in places where the Church is too young or too poor to be self-sufficient; and that finance schools and other facilities aimed at the catechesis of children.

The four societies are 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 four societies have been “pontifical” since 1922, indicating their status as official instruments of the Pope and the Universal Catholic Church. In most countries, the national director of The Pontifical Mission Societies heads the four societies and oversees the World Missions Sunday Collection, which is taken up on the third Sunday of October each year in every Catholic parish around the globe.

The Pontifical Mission Societies are, first and foremost, an evangelizing institution. We indeed seek to alleviate suffering, whether following the devastating earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria in February of 2023 or the horror of War in Ukraine. Still, our primary mandate is to preach the word of God and build the universal Church, paying particular attention to those places where the Catholic Church is newly established, lacks resources, or faces persecution.
 
Contact: Ines San Martin
VP of Marketing and Communications, The Pontifical Mission Societies USA
Email: isanmartin@missio.org
Phone: +1212-563-8706