World Mission Sunday is the Holy Father’s annual appeal for spiritual and financial support so that the life-giving work of overseas mission and missionaries can continue. It always falls on the second last Sunday in October, meaning this year it will be celebrated over the weekend of Sunday 24th.
Its theme ‘We Cannot Remain Silent – We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20)’ is twofold. It is a message of hope – Jesus Christ is risen and we cannot keep his love, compassion, and mercy to ourselves. It also challenges us to stand up and speak out on behalf of those who are weaker. All too often, the voices that need to be heard are not the loudest. For them, we cannot remain silent.
A special collection for World Missions will be held in each parish; most parishes have special envelopes for this purpose. But you can also donate via the iDonate button on the homepage of this website: Donate to RC Diocese of Clogher (idonate.ie)
Please support the work of Missio Ireland and its outreach to missionaries and mission communities across the world. Through prayer and financial support we can all make a difference by announcing the Gospel in word and action.
Deacon Martin Donnelly reflects on Mission Month
It’s wonderful how a poster on a Church noticeboard can make you think!
The poster above prompted me to think ‘What can I do for the Missions?’
I then cast my mind back 50 plus years ago when Missions had a huge profile in my Primary school not just in October but in every month of the year.
I grew up in an era where every Friday was a ‘Fast Day’ and whilst little primary-age children were not expected to fast, we were encouraged to do two good things every Friday. Firstly, we were encouraged to bring a penny( yes remember those -240 of those coins made £1stg.) for the Mission Box and secondly say a special prayer for all the hungry babies and the good people who looked after them.
Whilst many heroic missionaries, lay and religious from Ireland, dedicated their lives to caring for the poor, there is still huge poverty and suffering within the ‘third world countries’ today. The suffering is arguably even greater today with superpower governments abandoning their stewardship for creation both human and environmental which has led to oppression, injustice, starvation, destruction of natural resources, poverty, climate carnage and acute suffering.
So I look at the poster headline: “WE CANNOT REMAIN SILENT!” and ask myself what can I do today?
Happily, the poster provided me with a starting point as it encouraged me to log into Missio Ireland where I found a rich vein of resources for Mission Month October for I found something for individuals, the domestic church of the home, the schools and the parish community in word and vision.
As a primary school child I used to cry when I looked at some of the pictures the Presentation Sisters showed us of the Mission fields and stories they told us of the hardships which children my age were suffering.
Today, I asked myself what can I do this October and in turn I ask you:
What can you do this October, at home or school or in the Parish to see the face of Christ in the poor?
Maybe try clicking the link which I clicked then read the content then pray and act with compassion.
www.missio.ie
As part of the activities to mark October as Mission Month, the Diocese of Clogher Mission Group created two videos with missionaries.
The first, is an interview with Father John Skinnader – a Spiritan priest and native of County Monaghan, who was one of three Holy Ghost Fathers who opened the Congregation of the Holy Spirit’s mission in the newly independent South Sudan in 2012.
The second is a reflection on mission from Sister Majella McCarron OLA, a native of County Fermanagh, now living in Cork.
