Letter from the Director

This year Pope Francis addressed his World Mission Sunday message directly to young people. His reason for addressing youth was his desire to help them understand that “life is a mission” in which they can “live out joyfully our responsibility for the World.” In his message, he said:

Every man and woman is a mission; that is the reason for our life on this earth….The fact that we are not in this world by our own choice makes us sense that there is an initiative that precedes us and makes us exist. Each one of us is called to reflect on this fact: “I am a mission on this Earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world” (Evangelii Gaudium, 273).

Recognizing that all of us can benefit from this important reminder, we chose as our 2018 theme: “Together with young people, let us be voices for Mission.”

In that spirit, as we celebrate on the weekend of October 20th-21st, I wish to invite you to see World Mission Sunday as a special chance to live out the mission we share as God’s children, the mission to bring the Gospel to the whole world. This is our opportunity to encourage each and every person, young or old, to be a “voice for mission” through prayers and through any donations that they are able to give. These funds directly support the priests, religious and lay pastoral leaders who work tirelessly proclaiming the Gospel, building the Church, and serving the poor in more than 1,111 mission dioceses in Asia and Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe.

- Reverend Monsignor Terrance L. Fleming
October 2018