Mission Sunday 2021

World Mission Sunday

World Mission Sunday is celebrated in every Catholic community in the world. It is first and foremost the celebration that all baptised are missionaries. We participate in the Mission of God – to bring the Good News that God is here and wants to give life abundantly (Jn 10:10).

Mission Sunday is also a moment of grace to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in situations of poverty, violence and oppression. Every parish, school and community is invited to join this special event, and every penny, pound and prayer you give to Missio helps missionaries everywhere continue their work.

[Donate to World Mission Sunday here]

World Mission Sunday 2021 in New Zealand is on 31st October.

POPE FRANCIS MISSION SUNDAY MESSAGE 2021

In the Holy Father’s message for World Mission Sunday 2021, he says:

‘Jesus needs hearts capable of experiencing vocation as a true love story that urges them to go forth to the peripheries of our world as messengers and agents of compassion’.

On this day, through prayer, reflection and material help, we express our support of missionaries from all continents who are striving to bring the true love of Christ to all who have yet to receive it.

In March 2021, Pope Francis made a historic visit to the land of Abraham (Iraq) to express a message of hope and reconciliation. He went to bring support to the remaining Christian communities there, among the oldest in the world. It was a risky trip, but his message was of peace. As reported, the other mission he wanted to deliver, and of equally great importance, was to show the futility, insanity, and sheer evil of violent conflict between religions. Pope Francis demonstrated the power of symbolic action, exemplifying the call attributed to St Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. And when necessary, use words.”

The picture that declared an act more audible than words was captured when Pope Francis visited and held the hands of Iraq’s most prominent Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Grand Ayatollah is a critique of the war-mongering messages that continue to split the two Muslim communities of Shi’ites and Sunnis apart. A leading publication in England reported that for Pope Francis, “violence in the name of religion is blasphemy; fraternity was stronger than fratricide.”

This Mission Sunday 2021, MISSIO-NZ wants to share the picture of Pope Francis, the image of a Catholic Senior Leader who has a missionary heart, mind, and practice. Since the beginning of his pontificate, he has summoned the Faithful to be missionary people whose attention should focus on its service to the world. A missionary Church is ever ancient and ever new when it is a Church that goes forth. That way, she will always be relevant – “For we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”