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Mission cooperation serves people in the pew and those far away |
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By Deacon Mickey Friesen - For The Catholic Spirit
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Wednesday, 07 October 2009 |
 Claretian Missionary Father Joy Joseph introduced himself at the beginning of Mass and said he was born and raised in India, trained in Canada and now serving in Uganda.
Missionaries like Father Joy are a kind of living bridge who help us to
see and understand the universal dimensions of our Catholic faith and
mission.
Father Joy represents one of 55 different missionary groups who came
into the archdiocese to participate in the annual Missionary
Cooperation Plan. Each year, every parish welcomes one mission speaker,
representing a mission diocese, religious community or lay mission
organization to share his or her mission story from one place in the
world. In turn, each parish takes up a collection to respond to the
needs of that mission. Mission speakers come from Africa, Asia, Pacific
Islands, the Americas and Eastern Europe.
The church has regularly encouraged the mutual exchange of gifts for
the sake of building up the Body of Christ. Perhaps, the first
participant in missionary cooperation was St. Paul who repeatedly
sought alms in Jerusalem for the poor and needy, whom he called “the
saints.”
Pope John Paul II’s letter on mission said: “Cooperating in missionary
activity means not just giving but also receiving. All the particular
churches, both young and old, are called to give and receive in the
context of the universal mission” (No. 85). Something beautiful happens
when Catholics from different lands and cultures are able to meet
face-to-face and share their common faith, joys and suffering.
In the archdiocese, the Center for Mission facilitates the Missionary
Cooperation Plan by receiving applications from Catholic missions
desiring to come and make mission appeals in our parishes. Each mission
group accepted is invited and assigned to visit three or four parishes.
The mission appeal is scheduled on a weekend that is mutually agreeable
to the mission group and parish. All the money that is raised by the
parish mission appeal is sent to the Center for Mission, which forwards
it to that mission group.
Mission cooperation is as old as the church and as young as the Holy
Spirit still moving in the hearts of many people, ready to hear and
respond to the Good News of Jesus.
What happens to our World Mission Sunday donation?
When you contribute to the worldwide missions of the church on World
Mission Sunday, you join Catholics from every parish and diocese in the
world who are giving what they can to support the missionary activity
in more than 1,100 young churches growing in more than 120 countries.
Together, these funds make up what is known as the Universal Mission Solidarity Fund.
Your offering is sent to our archdiocesan office of the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith located at the Center for Mission. All the
money collected in the archdiocese and all other U.S. dioceses is then
sent to the national office of the Pontifical Mission Societies in New
York City.
Each spring, the Pontifical Mission Societies’ national directors from
around the world meet in Rome, Italy, where a list of projects and
programs of mission dioceses are presented for consideration.
The proposals that are determined and voted by directors to be most in
need of assistance for furthering evangelizing efforts are granted
funding.
Once the allocations are decided, funds are distributed directly to each mission diocese from each national office.
Your World Mission Sunday gift may be used to provide Bibles for
catechists in Sierra Leone, or to build a chapel for a parish in India.
Your offering may be used to help sisters in Sudan lovingly care for
orphans and AIDS victims or it may buy a bicycle or boat for a priest
in Thailand so he can travel from village to village and celebrate
Mass.
Most important, wherever your gift is sent, it carries with it the Good
News of Jesus Christ and his saving message of love, peace and hope.
For more information on World Mission Sunday or the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies go to: www.onefamilyinmission.org. Locally, you may contact the Center for Mission at: (651) 291-4445 or www.centerformission.org.
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