October 18, 2024

World Mission Sunday will be celebrated on Oct. 20; pope reminds Catholics we are called to be missionaries

Criterion staff report

Uniting Catholics worldwide in prayer, solidarity and support for the Church’s mission efforts, World Mission Sunday will be celebrated on Oct. 20 this year.

Pope Francis chose the theme for this year’s celebration, “Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet.” The theme reflects “the inclusive and urgent call to bring God’s love to everyone,” according to the website for The Pontifical Mission Societies, which coordinates the Church’s missionary efforts.

In choosing the theme, Pope Francis thanked missionaries around the world and reminded Catholics that Jesus called everyone to be a missionary for God.

“I take this opportunity to thank all those 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,” Pope Francis said.

“Let us not forget that every Christian is called to take part in this universal mission by offering his or her own witness to the Gospel in every context, so that the whole Church can continually go forth with her Lord and Master to the crossroads of today’s world.”

The donations that are collected for World Mission Sunday during Masses on the weekend of Oct. 19-20 go, in their entirety, to support churches, hospitals, schools and vocations in countries where the Church is new, young or poor.

“Meant to be held in every parish in the world, the proceeds benefit 1,150 territories where the Gospel has not yet been received, has been only recently embraced, or is courageously upheld in the face of persecution,” noted the website for The Pontifical Mission Societies.

To donate online for World Mission Sunday, visit the website for The Pontifical Mission Societies,

www.onefamilyinmission.org/wms. †

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