For some, the excitement of October means football, pumpkins and hayrides. For MISSIO, an online crowdfunding platform of the Holy Father’s own Pontifical Mission Societies, October means World Mission Month. It’s an opportunity to share with the Church the global needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage the faithful to respond with compassionate generosity.
Pope Francis reminds us of the impact that the worldwide pandemic has had on the most vulnerable. “Understanding what God is saying to us at this time of pandemic also represents a challenge for the Church’s mission. Illness, suffering, fear and isolation challenge us. The poverty of those who die alone, the abandoned, those who have lost their jobs and income, the homeless and those who lack food challenge us. Being forced to observe social distancing and to stay at home invites us to rediscover that we need social relationships, as well as our communal relationship with God. Far from increasing mistrust and indifference, this situation should make us even more attentive to our way of relating to others. And prayer, in which God touches and moves our hearts, should make us ever more open to the need of our brothers and sisters for dignity and freedom, as well as our responsibility to care for all creation.”
MISSIO is working to raise awareness of the most critical situations throughout the world by focusing on eight areas in desperate need of funding. This year’s World Mission Month projects include:
- Providing school supplies for more than 6 million Catholic school students in Africa and Asia
- Supporting catechists who share the Gospel in remote parts of Peru, Kenya and Mongolia
- Feeding the hungry in Swaziland, Ethiopia and Uganda
- Renovating a chapel in the Fiji Islands
- Sending medical supplies to the 6,400 Church-run hospitals and clinics in Africa and 4,700 hospitals in Asia
- Assisting more than 35,000 seminarians in need of financial help to receive an education
- Funding the many ministries and projects of more than 200,000 religious Sisters throughout the world
- Ensuring that every person on the globe has water to drink that is free from pollution, animal contamination and disease.
The theme for World Mission Month is “Here I Am, Send Me.” Are you ready and willing to answer the call of every baptized person to share in the evangelistic mission of Our Lord? Will you allow the Lord to send you?
Prayerfully consider how you can bring hope to the millions of people living in dire conditions beyond imagination. Perhaps it’s a donation through MISSIO’s online giving platform that allows for 100% of your tax-deductible gift to go directly to those who need it. Maybe you are being called to share about World Mission Month and the projects in need of support with your friends, family and fellow parishioners. Surely each one of us is called to offer our prayers and fasting for those who lack food, water and shelter.
As you enjoy all the seasonal festivities that the month of October brings, remember those who can only dream of having the basic necessities and respond with a heart that says, “Here I Am, Send Me.”
