HOUSTON, TX 

World Mission Sunday, organized by the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith, is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. In 2016, World Mission Sunday is celebrated on October 23.

Our Church’s celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy casts a distinct light on World Mission Sunday 2016.  It invites us to consider the missio ad gentes as a great, immense work of mercy, both spiritual and material. On this World Mission Sunday, all of us are invited to “go out” as Missionary disciples, each generously offering their talents, creativity, wisdom and experience to bring the message of God’s tenderness and compassion to the entire human family.

Pope Francis’ sentiments above for the celebration of the 90th World Mission Sunday, on October 23, call each of us to be a “Witness of Mercy,” the theme of this year’s Archdiocesan celebration.

Missionaries know from experience that the Gospel of forgiveness and mercy can bring joy and reconciliation, justice and peace. The mandate of the Gospel to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” _{Mt 28:19a-20}  has not ceased; rather this command commits all of us, in the current landscape with all its challenges, to hear the call to a renewed missionary “impulse.”

This Jubilee year marks the 90th anniversary of World Mission Sunday, first approved by Pope Pius XI in 1926, and organized by the Pontifical Mission Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Your prayers and material support will help theSociety provide resources to Missionaries in 1,111 Mission dioceses throughout the world to care for Christian communities in need and for the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the earth Gospel.

In Houston Fathers Michael Begley, CSSP., and David Cottingham, CSSP. were among the 80 plus who gathered on the 23rd for discussion and information exchange about their mission ministries.

Seen at far left: Fr. Michael Begley, CSSP., and Fr. David Cottingham, CSSp.

Picture at top: Fr. David Cottingham, CSSp. manning Spiritan booth in exhibit hall