Vandoosha smiles in the care of Sister Clara
Listen to this article now
Every year, something special happens on the next-to-last Sunday of October -- the Church reflects on its deepest identity, that of being missionary.
On World Mission Sunday, October 23, Catholics of the world will unite at Mass to recommit ourselves to our vocation, through baptism, to be missionaries. We invite you to join us that day at the Archdiocesan Eucharistic celebration at St. Michael Parish in Lowell at 11:00 a.m. as missionaries, ethnic choirs, school and parish representatives, and Society benefactors gather to celebrate our precious faith being planted in the most remote parts of the globe. Through prayers and sacrifices for The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, we are all made witnesses to the miracle of the growth of the Church around the world not only on World Mission Sunday but throughout the year.
This year's theme for World Mission Sunday comes from the Acts of the Apostles: "You Shall Be My Witnesses." By prayerfully supporting the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, you place missionary witnesses in ministry where they are needed most.
When Pope Francis recently called on all of us to "give voice to those not able to make their cries of pain and oppression heard," he could have been talking about any number of children served by missionaries. Vandoosha is one of them.
When she was very young, Vandoosha was sold by her parents to work in a neighbor's home in Chennai, India. Her parents, needing the money to feed the rest of the family, rationalized the act by telling themselves that at least they would still be able to see their daughter regularly. That was not to be as the neighbor sold Vandoosha again. "I had to work from 5 a.m. to midnight every day," Vandoosha says. "I was doing all the washing, cooking, and cleaning for the whole family and looking after their 2-year-old child, too."
Today, five years after Vandoosha was rescued, the memories of her time as a domestic worker are still fresh in her mind. Thanks to missionary sisters, she is now healthy, happy, and doing very well. She attends school along with over one hundred girls between the ages of four and fourteen who receive faith-filled care, an education, and vocational training.
Your prayerful generosity on World Mission Sunday, and every day, give missionary witnesses the opportunities to act and defend the lives people like Vandoosha, and countless others, whose gratitude will be life-long.
- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.