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About the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA)

Founded in 1843, the Missionary Childhood Association (formerly Holy Childhood Association) is an international organization whose membership is made up of students in Catholic elementary schools and religious education programs. H. E. Charles de Forbin Jason, a French bishop, was inspired Pauline Jaricot initiative to help missionaries through the Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith. He sought to involve the children in France founding the society asking them to help children in China through prayer and donations. Today, it is an organization dedicated to fostering children’s awareness of the missionary nature of the Church. With children in more than 130 countries participating the motto of the association has been updated to say: children evangelizing, children praying for the children, children helping children worldwide.

The Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) program in the Mission Office exists to be of service to schools and religious education programs in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Fostering in children and youth a missionary spirit and leadership, that motivates them to share their faith and material goods, especially with children who are most in need. Through the material and resources, we seek to foster a missionary vocation in children so they may take part in the life of the church as missionary disciples.

Authorized by the Vatican, and in collaboration with the U.S. Bishops, MCA distributes educational and fund-raising programs to schools and religious education programs throughout the United States. It is sometimes known as the Pontifical Association of the Missionary Childhood because it is sponsored in a special way by the Pope. It is the official agency of the Holy Father for the distribution of the fundraising proceeds realized through the efforts of children for their underprivileged brothers and sisters in Third World situations.

2022-2023 Welcome Bulletin & Forms
Below you will find this year’s summer welcome packet mailed to schools and religious education programs in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. You can request a copy of the Welcome Packet by contacting the Program Coordinator, Magdalena Arellano at (213) 637-7416 or you can email us at mca@la-archdiocese.org.

Print-ready digital copies of forms sent out in the summer welcome packet are available below in a digital format. If you wish to get a printable copy of the form, please contact our office. To best serve you, please note and submit each form by the deadlines listed on the top right corner of each form. All forms are in Adobe PDF format. (Download Adobe Reader)

In the welcome packet you will find useful information to help promote MCA in your school and parish. All resources are free of charge.

Please take a moment to go through it.

Letter to School Principal
Letter to Mission Moderator

The Welcome Bulletin 2022-2023 provides a small preview of MCA throughout the year.

MCA Forms

MCA Resources

MCA Monthly Resources

  • A saint of the month, a monthly calendar, a prayer service and activities are distributed for catholic school students and children at parishes to help foster in them a missionary spirit. Click on the Material & Lesson Plans to see this month material. 

Downloadable Resources Every first week of the month a MCA Activities, prayer service, saint of the month and a calendar will be sent to the email address you have provided us. These educational materials are meant to help children learn of our baptismal call to mission and that our missionary work starts at home. Through prayer for others, service in their communities and the practice of sacrificial giving to help those in need. Instilling in them a sense that they are Jesus Christ missionary disciples in their communities who make a difference wherever they might go. (Download Adobe Reader)

Click on the links below to download the monthly resources:


Materials & Activities for Lent 2023

Materials & Activities for February 2023

Materials & Activities for December 2022
• MCA Activity – Advent Wreath (Bilingual)
• MCA Activity-Nativity Scene (Bilingual)
• MCA Activity – Jesse Tree (Bilingual)
• MCA Prayer Service-Advent weekly prayers (Bilingual)
• MCA Prayer Service (Bilingual)
• MCA Prayer Service-Blessing of Nativity (Bilingual)
• MCA Advent Calendar (Bilingual)

Materials & Activities for November 2022
• November 2022 Calendar (English)
• November: Saint of the Month – St. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio (Bilingual)
• November: MCA Activity Grades K-2 (Bilingual)
• November: MCA Activity Grades 3-5 (Bilingual)
• November: MCA Activity Grades 6-8 (Bilingual)
• November Prayer Service (Bilingual)

Materials & Activities for October 2022
• October 2022 Calendar (English)
• October Saint of the Month – St. Therese de Liseux (Bilingual)
• Mission Awareness Week (English)
• Semana de Concientización de la Misión (Spanish)

Materials & Activities for September 2022
• September 2022 Calendar (English)
• September Saint of the Month – St. Gregory the Great (Bilingual)
• September: MCA Activity Grades K-2 (Bilingual)
• September: MCA Activity Grades 3-5 (Bilingual)
• September: MCA Activity Grades 6-8 (Bilingual)
• September Prayer Service (Bilingual)

Materials & Activities for August 2022 – included in welcome package
• August 2022 Calendar (English)
• August Saint of the Month – St. Clare of Assisi (Bilingual)
• August: MCA Activity Grades K-2 (Bilingual)
• August: MCA Activity Grades 3-5 (Bilingual)
• August: MCA Activity Grades 6-8 (Bilingual)
• August Prayer Service (Bilingual)

MCA Forms For all MCA forms, visit our Forms page. If you require assistance, or have any questions, please contact us at (213) 637-7229. MCA Past Materials & Lesson Plans For past materials and lesson plans, visit our Lesson Plan Archive page.

MCA Family Mission Day
The MCA Family Mission Day is a special event designed by MCA to promote, educate and animate our baptismal call to be missionaries among children and their families; fostering the missionary spirit that we are called to have as a church that goes out to the peripheries serving the poor and spreading the joy of the Gospel.

We invite you to join us for a day packed with activities, mission awareness talks, games, and a Family Mass. Talks and activities will be suitable for the children attending and family members present will be asked to join their children in the activities and talks.

If you are interested in having a Family Mission Day at your parish or if you have any further questions, please contact Magdalena Arellano or email us at mca@la-archdiocese.org





You can schedule a speaker today to celebrate Catholic School Week, Advent, Lent, or any time during Ordinary Time.

To schedule a missionary speaker, please fill out the form below and fax it to (213) 637-6223 or email it to mca@la-archdiocese.org



MCA Program Coordinator and MCA Administrative Assistant with Mission Moderators at the Meet and Greet Session. Below you will find resources created for all Mission Moderators. They were included in this year’s summer welcome packet. If you would like a copy mailed to you, please contact the Program Coordinator, Magdalena Arellano at (213) 637-7416. Or you can email us at mca@la-archdiocese.org. All of these handouts are for the purpose to guide and give ideas to Mission Moderators this school year. Print-ready digital copies of forms sent out in the summer welcome packet are available below for downloading and printing. All forms are in Adobe PDF format.  (Download Adobe Reader)

•    Letter to Catholic School Principals
•    Letter to Mission Moderator
•    Mission Moderator Job Description (Catholic Schools) (Bilingual)
•    Mission Moderator Job Description (RE Program) (Bilingual)
•    Mission Corner Ideas (English)
•    MCA Brochure (English)
•    MCA Brochure (Spanish) 

2022-2023 Christmas Artwork Contest
All children in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are encouraged to enter our annual Missionary Childhood Association artwork contest. The Los Angeles MCA office will select twelve local winners from all entries submitted.

The artwork of the twelve local winners will be on display at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels during December 2023. The twelve local winning entries will then be submitted to the MCA National Office to be entered in the nation-wide contest where twenty-four winners will be selected to be displayed at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. during Advent and Christmas in 2023.

Entries for the 2021/22 school year are due January 31, 2023 and shall be submitted to your local Missionary Childhood Association office at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

You can now download a Christmas Artwork Contest Entry Form. Please make sure that every student who submits an entry, has the form attached to the back of their artwork.



Click on the images below to see last year local finalist and our two national finalists.

The MCA Youth Appreciation Mass is an annual celebration of the children that are part of the Missionary Childhood Association. It is our way or recognizing and celebrating the missionary spirit present in the young church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Throughout the year children pray, serve in their communities and give generously by donating what they can to help other children in third world countries. Every year more than 3,000 children gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to celebrate with each other and be reminded that we the church are the living body of Christ here on earth. After mass there is music, dancing and students have lunch in the Cathedral Plaza.  

In 2022 we celebrated our 100-year anniversary since MCA was declared a Pontifical Mission Society. Being declared a Pontifical Mission Society means that MCA is sponsored in a special way by Pope Francis, who deeply appreciates the efforts of children helping their underprivileged brothers and sisters in Christ who live in third-world countries.

We look forward to seeing you next year at the MCA Youth Appreciation Mass. Save the date Wednesday October 18, 2023 at 10am.