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Bringing the Universal Church to Our Diocese

A group of people, some wearing religious habits, stand together on a narrow log bridge over a stream in a lush, green forest setting. They are smiling and stretching their arms out joyfully.

About Us

Welcome to the Office for the Missions, San Diego Diocese, where we promote and organize Missionary Childhood Association, Missionary Cooperation Plan, Mission Sunday, Mass Cards and Mass intentions that supply stipends for Priests here and in mission countries, Planned Giving opportunities, Monthly and Membership donors, and Bequests. We welcome visiting missionaries and help guide people who feel a call to Mission. We are committed to creating an awareness of and promoting the support of World Mission within the communities of the Diocese of San Diego. Through Missionary Appeals, education programs, immersion programs and publicity in the diocesan newspaper, we endeavor to bring missionary work and needs to the attention of parishioners in parishes and youth in schools and religious education programs.



The Office for the Missions is the primary vehicle for the financial support of the Worldwide Mission of the Church through the Propagation of the Faith, Missionary Childhood Association and the Society for Peter the Apostle. The activities of the Pontifical Mission Societies are carried out in the Diocese of San Diego through the Office for the Missions, and assists Catholics in San Diego to deepen their baptismal commitment in fulfilling their missionary responsibility.

The Office for the Missions extends the care of the Diocese of San Diego to communities by:

  • Providing direction and help to lay missionaries.
  • Soliciting funds for the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies and missionaries – clergy, religious and lay.
  • Facilitating the celebration of World Mission Sunday in October of each year.
  • Coordinating the Missionary Cooperation Plan, which enables missionaries to share their experiences directly with parishioners during the Sunday Liturgy.
  • Assisting those who choose to make periodic or monthly donations to support missionary work.
  • Confirming the worthiness of charities for those who wish to designate a gift to a specific missionary project or community
  • Through the Missionary Childhood Association, invite young people to pray and to offer financial help so that children in the Missions today may know Christ and experience His love and care
  • Visiting mission countries to learn first-hand the special needs of missionaries and the people
  • Offering information and assisting those who wish to make a Bequest that supports missionary work.

All of these activities help unite the efforts of parishioners in the Diocese of San Diego with the world-wide Catholic effort to bring Christ to all nations and cultures.

A group of children and an adult in a blue garment standing on a sandy area with greenery in the background. The children are smiling, and some are wearing colorful clothing.
A child in a red sweater places a clear plastic bag into a woven basket held by another person in a blue garment. The background is softly blurred, indicating an indoor setting with multiple people.

This is how you can help

You can carry out your baptismal commitment to be a missionary by:

  • Giving witness to your love for Christ and His Church with your family, friends and everyday acquaintances
  • Fostering a devotion to the missions among our children.
  • Offering financial assistance to help support the material needs of mission lands and organizations.
  • Attending weekday Mass, joining your prayers and sufferings to the sufferings of Christ and participating more intimately in His mission to renew the face of the Earth.
  • Forming or joining missionary “circles of cooperation” sponsored by various missionary groups.

Do you wish to visit the Missions?

Contact the Office for the Missions or the Catholic Volunteer Network https://catholicvolunteernetwork.org/contact-us/, a “clearing-house” for lay volunteer missionaries. For more information about how you can help the work of the missions through the Pontifical Mission Societies, contact:
  • Rev. Soney Sebastian, Director
  • Office for the Missions
  • PO Box 82386, San Diego, CA 92138-2386
  • E-Mail: ssebastian@sdcatholic.org

Contact Information

Staff

  • Director: Rev. Soney Sebastian
  • Associate Director: Sister Doreen Lai, SP
  • Director of MCA at Diocese of San Diego: Sister Eva Rodríguez, SJS
  • Administrative Assistant: Joy Chan

Send Us A Message

Support the Missions

Your contributions will enable the missionaries in spreading the Gospel often endangering their lives.

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Copyright © 2025.

Diocese of San Diego Office for Missions.

About the Coat of Arms

Bishop Pulido’s coat of arms is divided into four quarters with wavy horizontal lines from top to bottom. The blue and white lines represent the Blessed Virgin Mary. They also suggest water, which alludes to Jesus washing the feet of His disciples and to the waters of baptism. The red and gold lines represent the Holy Spirit and fire. The colors also can be seen as referring to the Blood that (along with water) poured from Jesus’ side at His crucifixion, as well as to the bread (gold) and wine (red) transformed into the Eucharist. At the center is a roundel featuring a symbolic representation of the “mandatum” (washing of the feet), which he believes exemplifies service to all humanity. The roundel’s outer edge is a line composed of small humps; it is borrowed from the coat of arms of the Diocese of Yakima, where Bishop Pulido served as a priest before being named a bishop.

About the Coat of Arms

Bishop Pham’s coat of arms depicts a red boat on a blue ocean, which is crisscrossed by diagonal lines suggesting a fisherman’s net. This symbolizes his ministry as a “fisher of men,” as well as how his own father had been a fisherman. The boat is also a symbol of the Church, which is often referred to as the “barque of Peter.” At the center of the sail is a red beehive (a symbol of the bishop’s baptismal patron saint, St. John Chrysostom, who was known as a “honey-tongued” preacher). The beehive is surrounded by two green palm branches (an ancient symbol of martyrdom; the bishop’s ancestors were among Vietnam’s first martyrs). The eight red tongues of fire around the boat are a symbol of the Holy Spirit and a representation of the diversity of ethnic and cultural communities. The red of the boat, the beehive and the tongues of fire allude to the blood of the martyrs.

About the Coat of Arms

The coat of arms combines symbols that reflect Bishop Bejarano’s spiritual life and priestly ministry. The main part of the shield shows four wavy vertical lines on a gold background. These represent flowing waters. This alludes to his chosen motto and also symbolizes the graces that come from the Divine life to quench our thirst for God. The upper third of the shield is red because it is borrowed from the coat of arms of the Order of Mercy, of which the Bishop’s patron saint, Raymond Nonnatus, was a member. The central symbol resembles a monstrance because St. Raymond is often depicted holding one. The Eucharist is Bishop Bejarano’s inspiration for his vocation. It was through the Eucharist that he received his call to the priesthood at age seven and which keeps his faith and his ministry going. It represents the call to offer oneself as a living sacrifice. The monstrance is flanked on either side by an image of the Sacred Heart, alluding to the mercy of God and echoing the idea of a sacrificial offering of oneself united to the sacrifice of Christ, and of a rose for Our Lady. It is an allusion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, and highlights the bishop’s Hispanic heritage.

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