The Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle, founded by Richard Cardinal Cushing in 1958, is an international organization of diocesan missionary priests who volunteer a minimum of five years of their priestly lives to service in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. They were established by Cushing in response to the call by Pope St. John XXIII for members of the Catholic Church in economically favored nations to assist their fellow Catholics in Latin America. [1]
Based in Boston, US, they are not a religious order, but an organization which facilitates a temporary period of service (usually five years) by Roman Catholic clergy. After this period, most members return to their home diocese, though some remain committed to serve in the work of the Society. While on mission, they make themselves available for work in remote, rural parishes or in urban ones, where the limited resources of the local Church make serving the local inhabitants difficult.
The Society acted under the protection of Seán Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, OFMCap, the archbishop of Boston until his resignation in 2024. In 2008 Fr. David Costello from Limerick in Ireland, was elected Superior of the Society in Peru, [2] and is a director of the society.
The Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits, is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions, with the approval of Pope Paul III. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also conduct retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social and humanitarian ministries, and promote ecumenical dialogue.
Philip Romolo Neri, sometimes referred to as the Second Apostle of Rome after Saint Peter, was an Italian Catholic priest who founded the Congregation of the Oratory, a society of secular clergy dedicated to pastoral care and charitable work. Neri's spiritual mission emphasized personal holiness and direct service to others, particularly through the education of young people and care for the poor and sick. His work played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation, especially within the city of Rome.
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation was given recognition by Pope Leo XII on February 17, 1826. As of January 2020, the congregation was composed of 3,631 priests and lay brothers usually living in community. Their traditional salutation is Laudetur Iesus Christus, to which the response is Et Maria Immaculata. Members use the post-nominal letters, "OMI".
Isaac Thomas Hecker was an American Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men.

The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men. It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people around Naples. It is dedicated to missionary work and they minister in more than 100 countries. Members of the congregation are Catholic priests and consecrated religious brothers.

Richard James Cushing was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder of new churches, schools, and institutions. Unlike his predecessor, he was on good terms with practically the entire Boston elite, as he softened the traditional confrontation between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant upper-class. He built useful relationships with Jews, Protestants, and institutions outside the usual Catholic community. He helped presidential candidate John F. Kennedy deflect fears of papal interference in American government if a Catholic became president.
The Maryknoll Society is is a Catholic society of apostolic life for men founded in the United States to serve as missionaries to the poor and marginalized.
The Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, commonly called the Scalabrinian Missionaries, is a Catholic religious institute of brothers and priests founded by Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bishop of Piacenza in Italy, in 1887. The members of the congregation add the nominal letters CS after their names to indicate their membership in the Congregation. Its mission is to "maintain Catholic faith and practice among Italian emigrants in the New World." Today, they and their sister organizations, the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo and the Secular Institute of the Scalabrinian Missionary Women minister to migrants, refugees and displaced persons.
The Society of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites, is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Members work specifically among African Americans and take the postnominals SSJ.
The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Anselmo Ricardo Ribeiro, who hails from Brazil.

The Society of Mary, better known under the name Marist, is a religious congregation under pontifical right.
A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose and live fraternally. It is regarded as a form of consecrated life.
The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded in New York City in 1858 by Isaac Hecker in collaboration with George Deshon, Augustine Hewit, and Francis A. Baker.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are often known as Holy Ghost Fathers or, in continental Europe and the Anglosphere, as Spiritans, and members use the postnominals CSSp.
Thomas Vose Daily was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York from 1990 to 2003. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida from 1984 to 1990 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts from 1975 to 1984
The Missionary Society of St Thomas, abbreviated M.S.T. is an Eastern Catholic missionary organization founded in 1968 in Kerala by the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, for missionary work in "less Christian areas" in and outside India. It was founded by Bishop Sebastian Vayalil as a society of apostolic life for men.
Catholic Marian movements and societies have developed from the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary by members of the Catholic Church. These societies form part of the fabric of Mariology in the Catholic Church. Popular membership in Marian organizations grew significantly in the 20th century, as apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima gave rise to societies with millions of members, and today many Marian societies exist around the world. This article reviews the major Marian movements and organizations.
Ignatius Francis Lissner, S.M.A. was a French-born Catholic priest who was instrumental in developing the ministry of the Church in the United States to the African-American population.
John William Comber, M.M. was an American Catholic missionary who served as the superior general of the Maryknoll Society in the United States from 1956 to 1966. He was named the titular bishop of Foratiana in 1959