The collection which takes place in Catholic Churches worldwide provides financial assistance to Young Churches and missionaries allowing them to meet the spiritual and human needs of some of the world’s poorest people.
In 2008 Irish people contributed over €2.5 million to the collection, helping greatly to sustain the work of the 1,976 Irish missionaries currently serving throughout the world. Funds raised from the collection last year were allocated to missionaries and associated projects in 13 countries, including India, South Africa, Liberia and Botswana.
Projects supported by the funds raised through the Mission Sunday collection included the building of simple mission churches, the education of seminarians and the formation of lay leaders. The Mission Sunday gift was also used for the building of health clinics for children, emergency aid in times of war or natural disaster and assisted missionaries in their efforts to care for refugees.
Mission Sunday is organised each year by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one branch of World Missions, Ireland. The theme of Mission Sunday 2009 is ‘Reach Out’. The Society is promoting the message that we too can ‘reach out’ from home to help our missionaries; just as in their everyday work Irish missionaries are reaching out to help those among whom they live and work.
National Director of the Society, Fr Ed Grimes CSSp, stated: “Contributions made by the Irish people to the Mission Sunday collection are critical to ensuring the work of missionaries can continue throughout the world as they fulfil the theme of Mission Sunday: ‘Reach Out’.”
Fr Grimes continued: “For those of us here in Ireland, support for the Mission Sunday collection is the most effective expression of appreciation for our missionaries and their virtuous and often heroic work.”
The Mission Sunday 2009 poster features five Irish missionaries currently reaching out in mission countries such as Kenya, Brazil and Zimbabwe. Each day they work with the marginalised, the poor and the suffering striving to provide a better quality of life and a hopeful future. All five have dedicated over thirty years to mission and are true examples of the extraordinary service and commitment of Irish missionaries down the decades.
Further information can be obtained by visiting www.wmi.ie
