Many of our own parishes are financially struggling this year because of COVID-19. Can you imagine how mission parishes are surviving without the infrastructure we have, the health care available to us, and now with a pandemic that is keeping the faithful distant from Mass and the sacraments?
But even in the midst of a worldwide crisis, the work of evangelization continues in mission dioceses far and wide. While they do not have the technologies and medical care we enjoy in our country, the Church in mission lands continues to minister to God’s people in a heroic fashion. Missionaries remind all of us that Jesus is in our midst and that no one is left alone in this global crisis. We can trust in the strength He gives us to carry any cross.
Our prayers and generous help on World Mission Sunday support the mission Church worldwide, as we respond to the call: “Here I Am, Send Me.”
For More Information about World Mission Sunday, contact Father Robert F. Sharman, Diocesan Director of the Office of Pontifical Missions, at (717) 657-4804 or missions@hbgdiocese.org.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We celebrate World Mission Sunday on October 18th this year. This annual, worldwide Eucharistic celebration emphasizes our shared baptismal call to mission.
Pope Francis, in his message for World Mission Sunday, implores us, “In this year marked by the suffering and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the missionary journey of the whole Church continues in light of the words found in the account of the calling of the prophet Isaiah: “Here I am, send me” (6:8). This is the ever-new response to the Lord’s question: ‘Whom shall I send?’ This invitation from God’s merciful heart challenges both the Church and humanity, in the current world crisis.”
During the Mission Month of October, Pope Francis reminds us that, as baptized Christians, we are called personally to mission – especially at this time – to bring Christ’s love to those most forgotten around the world. Jesus is God the Father’s own Missionary; He asks us to respond to this call to mission, this invitation to “step out of ourselves for love of God and neighbor.” What will your answer be? “Here I Am, Send Me” is the response we will all endeavor to live out this World Mission Sunday, through prayer, participation in the Holy Eucharist, and generosity to the collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Through your support of the Propagation of the Faith, you too can be sent out to all the ends of the earth – sent through your support of missionaries and those they serve. Your gifts sustain priests, religious and lay pastoral leaders in more than 1,100 mission dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe as they proclaim the Gospel, build the Church, and serve the poor. The Church is on the front lines of major threats to human well-being, assuring that no one is alone in this crisis. With the missionaries, you answer, “Here I Am, Send Me.”
This year, in response to the challenges to the Mission Church from the pandemic, I invite all of us in the Harrisburg Diocese to respond in the most generous way you are able. As you do, I offer my sincere personal gratitude for your kind missionary heart, reaching out in love throughout Mission Month.
Gratefully in the Lord,
Most Reverend Ronald W. Gainer
Bishop of Harrisburg
