2011 has been a special year! Every diocese throughout England and Wales has offered a joy-filled Mass of thanksgiving for 75 years of the presence of the iconic Red Box in our midst. In most dioceses, the celebrations have been led by their local bishop, a tangible sign of unity between the parishes in this country and those in countries across the world where the Church is young and poor. Today the iconic Red Box, unique to England and Wales, is present in more than 200,000 homes. For the past 75 years, it has been a simple but extremely effective way of supporting countless missionaries, missions and people.
It was no coincidence that the final Mass, closing the Year of the Red Box, was celebrated at Westminster Cathedral on World Mission Sunday, the day of universal Church solidarity with its youngest and poorest members. Speaking to a large congregation composed of people who are themselves representatives of many widely-differing nationalities and cultures, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said: “In Paul’s original words in I Thessalonians, the word we have translated as ‘spread’ is more like the sounding out of a trumpet or the crashing of thunder... I hope that the celebrations today inspire in us all a new thankfulness for the gift of APF-Mill Hill and a new desire to let God's love be known and his gifts received throughout the world.”
Archbishop Vincent Nichols with Fr Ephraim Odhiambo, Mill Hill Appealer for Westminster; Fr Anthony Chantry, General Superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries; Fr Bernard Phelan, Regional Superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries; Fr Philip Knights, Missio Diocesan Director for Westminster and Canon James Cronin, Missio National Director. |
The Association for the Propagation of the Faith (APF) and the Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM) agreed to work together in 1936 and so the APF-Mill Hill Red Box was born. The sides of the first Red Box declared that ‘The APF supports the work of spreading the Gospel throughout the world’ and that Mill Hill Missionaries are ‘Britain’s own Missionary Society of Priests, Brothers and Associates’. The familiar circle encompassing the black and white APF-Mill Hill insignia was replaced by a picture of the world with the Cross both at its centre and in its foreground. Yet just as life is not static, neither was the Red Box! The next version bore a more colourful label, but retained, both, ‘To be a Christian is to be a missionary’ and the reminder to pray for the Missions.
Today’s Red Box looks very different from its predecessors, but its function and message are the same: to be a Christian is to be a missionary.
What does the Red Box do?
60% of the money collected through the Red Boxes is given to the APF which then goes directly to the bishops of the dioceses where it will be used; 40% is given to the Mill Hill Missionaries to support their work throughout the world.
How do Red Box contributions bring faith and new life to communities around the world?
- They help to provide for the training of Catechists and Prayer Leaders, so essential in places where the priest can only visit a couple of times each year.
- The Red Box builds desperately needed churches, schools and hospitals.
- The Red Box helps to support families through parish and diocesan development and health education programmes.
- Sisters continue to equip and run schools, clinics and hospitals in towns and in rural areas, offering dignity and hope to the poor, love to orphans, food and education to hungry children, medicine to the sick and skills-training to young people.
- The Red Box support for the local Church wherever it is young or poor means that dioceses have priests, parish communities and the Sacraments, even in remote areas.
- Many dioceses could not continue without their annual support through the Red Box.
- The Red Box helps to train Mill Hill Missionaries and send them out to proclaim Christ to the nations.
- The Red Box supports Mill Hill Missionaries in their service of those abandoned and in greatest need in twenty countries.
- The Red Box helps Mill Hill Missionaries to serve new and young Christian communities throughout the world.
A selection of photos taken at the celebratory mass can be viewed here...