Faith

Parishioners of Saint Joseph Parish in Hosanna, Ethiopia sound the call for World Mission Sunday: Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet!

Propagation of the Faith

World Mission Sunday: A Universal Day of Celebration!

Friday, October 4, 2024Faith

Because our Church is universal, Mass is celebrated in many different dialects every day. When you consider the message spoken around our altars, it becomes apparent that we speak a common language -- one of mercy and love.
On October 20, 2024, in all the Catholic churches of the world -- from the grandest cathedral to the smallest mission outstation -- this common language will be used as we celebrate the missionary work of the Church on World Mission Sunday. Boston's Archdiocesan celebration will be at Saint Agnes Parish in Arlington at noon -- please join us!
Originally set aside as a worldwide celebration almost one hundred years ago by Pope Pius XI, World Mission Sunday is a day to renew our shared call to live as missionary disciples. First received at baptism, this call asks every Catholic to reach out to those who live on the margins in the missions -- the sick, the troubled, the needy, and the lonely -- and share our most profound gift with them: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis set this year's World Mission Sunday theme: "Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet! (MT22:9)." In his annual message for the day, the Holy Father reminds us, "The Eucharistic renewal that many local Churches are laudably promoting in the post-Covid era will also be essential for reviving the missionary spirit in each member of the faithful." He also thanks missionaries, "who, in response to Christ's call, have left everything behind to go far from their homeland and bring the Good News to places where people have not yet received it, or received it only recently."
Whether it is feeding street children, caring for HIV-positive mothers, or providing clean water for a rural village, missionaries are on the front lines of the world's crises as living witnesses to God's love and compassion to those they serve.
As the official mission arm of the Catholic Church, The Society for the Propagation of the Faith is charged with making sure that all missionaries have the tools needed to perform the corporal works of mercy necessary for them to teach the spiritual ones.
During October, as a World Mission Sunday offering to support missionaries, can you give $2 a day -- less than the cost of a cup of coffee -- for those who represent us among our brothers and sisters in the missions? Sixty-two dollars in the hands of a missionary provides bread to those who go without, the medicine denied it, or the school materials to students in need.
Your sacrifice, no matter the size, prayerfully made, can help us change the world one faith-filled heart at a time. Give at propfaithboston.org today!

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.