The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 12, 2025
Next Sunday, October 19, is Mission Sunday. While Mission Sunday is not one of the major church liturgical commemorations, it is important. It is important first of all because on this Sunday every Catholic Church in the world takes up a second collection to support our missions throughout the world. While the Church relies on collections from rich countries like the United States, collections are taken up everywhere, even in places like Papua New Guinea, India and Nigeria.
But Mission Sunday is more than a collection; it is a reminder of Christ’s command that his disciples should go throughout the world to proclaim the Good News and invite all to discipleship.
When I was a boy, our family, like most Catholic families, received solicitations from many missionary Orders. Maryknoll Magazine arrived each month and it inspired me with its photo stories of the Catholic Church in Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond. I eventually joined the Capuchins, an Order in more than 100 countries and I joined the Capuchin Province of Saint Augustine with missions in Papua New Guinea and Puerto Rico.
The word catholic means universal and it means that God loves everyone and calls everyone to turn away from sin, be baptized and enter the Church. There is no place on earth where the mission of the Church is not necessary.
When I was a boy in Catholic school, we were told to make sacrifices for “the missions” and there was some sort of donating or fundraising in every classroom for the “Holy Child Association” a mission agency that collects money from children to fund projects that help children.
In those days, the missions were in Africa, Asia or Latin America primarily and the missionaries were from Europe and North America mostly. But things have changed. Today those places called “the missions” when I was a child now have thriving Catholic communities and often plenty of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It is common now in North America and Europe to attend Mass presided over by an African or Indian priest.
Mission Sunday is a reminder that everywhere is mission and that we should witness to our faith wherever we are. We need to be missionaries in Philadelphia, missionaries to our own families and neighbors. The Mission Sunday collection is a sharing of resources among Catholics; we are one Church.
The Mission Sunday collection assists young churches where the faith is only recently planted. Every poor mission diocese receives an annual subsidy from this collection. Wherever the Catholic Church exists, it operates schools, health care projects and social service projects. This is true in Philadelphia and it is true in Papua New Guinea and everywhere. In poor countries, the presence of the Church means love and care for the poor. I have seen first hand the good that the Church does in many places. When we support the Catholic Church, we support charity and human development.
The Mission Sunday collection is important. Please share generously with our brother and sister Catholics in poor countries.
