“The collections of World Mission Sunday are entirely destined to the universal fund of solidarity that the Pontifical Society of the Propagation of the Faith then distributes in the Pope’s name for the needs of all the Church’s missions. It directly supports seminaries, future religious sisters, catechists, Catholic schools that provide essential education, and healthcare centers that provide essential care, embodying the love of Christ over 1,150 mission territories across Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East.

I urge you, dear friends, to respond generously to this call. Let us unite in prayer for the success of the Church’s missionary activities and for the missionaries who dedicate their lives to spreading the Gospel.”

Robert Cardinal McElroy, Bishop of San Diego

Envelopes will be in the church pews or in the parish office.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (specify World Mission Sunday)

Rev. Hieu Trong Nguyen, SVD will be at St. Gregory the Great Church on August 17-18, 2024 to celebrate Masses and to speak about the many ministries of his religious community, Divine Word Missionaries. They are an international religious community of missionary priests and Brothers serving in 79 countries helping to build chapels, celebrate the sacraments, and spread the Word of God in remote mission communities.

Fr. Hieu is originally from Vietnam. He has worked as a missionary doing pastoral work in several parishes in Oakland and San Bernardino, California. Currently, he serves as Provincial Treasurer of SVD Western Province.

Nearly 6,000 active Divine Word Missionaries minister in the far corners of the world. They build hospitals to care for the sick and schools to educate the poor. They teach the hungry to farm and provide life’s necessities such as water, food, and shelter. These priests and Brothers help those neglected and forgotten by society to build a better future. They also foster vibrant Catholic communities of service and faith around the world. This mission appeal is part of the Missionary Cooperative Program of our Diocese of San Diego.

Please be generous with your prayers and contribute to the second collection to help support the missionary work of the Divine Word Missionaries. To meet some of the people Divine Word Missionaries help, please read the stories at https://missionimpact.svdmissions.org/mission-update

On October 21-22, the Universal Church celebrates World Mission Sunday. It is an opportunity to remind us of our own call to be missionary disciples. Pope Francis reflected on this year’s theme: “Hearts on fire, feet on the move,” inspired by the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke (24:13-35). The Holy Father invites us to kindle the fire of Christ’s love in our hearts and to actively share this warmth with the world around us. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we go forth and bring the Good News to all corners of the world. On World Mission Sunday we assist the Holy Father to support the Church in the missions by praying for our missionaries and financially supporting their ministry.

Envelopes will be in the church pews or in the parish office.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (specify World Mission Sunday)

Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament

Sr. Eva Rodriguez, SJS, will speak on behalf of her congregation, The Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. The sisters are in the United States in the Dioceses of Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. They also minister in 71 Catholic schools in México, Guatemala, Chile, and a large mission in Peru. Founded on November 25, 1904, by Father Silviano Carrillo, the congregation of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament was born because of a sacrilege. On July 18, 1901, a thief broke into Father Carrillo’s church and stole the consecrated hosts. This desecration – more ignorant than malicious – greatly saddened the priest. “The thief did not know who is present in this sacrament,” he wrote. “Had he known, he would have never committed this crime.” As a result, the congregation became a community of women who dedicated their lives to daily adoration of the Holy Eucharist and the religious education of children and youth. In the Diocese of San Diego, they have served more than 110,000 students in 85 years. Their mission continues today in preparing young people to know and love Jesus in the Eucharist, to live the Gospel values, and to help build a better world.

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or the pews. You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (select “Mission Cooperative Program” or MCP on the donation page)

www.usasjs.org

World Mission Sunday will be celebrated this year on the weekend of October 22-23. This year’s theme is: “You shall be My witnesses” (Acts 1:8). As Cardinal McElroy has shared,
“Pope Francis in his World Mission Sunday message, emphasizes the call to every Christian to bear witness to Christ, to participate in a mission of universal evangelization, and to seek
strength and guidance from the Holy Spirit”. Pope Francis also points to the example of Blessed Pauline Jaricot, foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as a way to respond to that missionary call, through prayer and charity. Your prayers and sacrifices on World Mission Sunday will support priests, religious Sisters and Brothers, and lay pastoral leaders who are proclaiming the Gospel, building the Church, and serving the poorest communities in territories covering more than half the globe. Your practical help and devoted prayer enable missionaries to work and witness to Christ, as it enables each one of us to be the Lord’s witnesses, as reflected in this year’s theme: “You shall be My witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or in the parish office.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (specify World Mission Sunday)

Dominic Bao Tran, C.Ss.R., a Redemptorist missionary, will be speaking to us about the vital work being done by Redemptorist missionary priests and brothers serving in their overseas missions in Nigeria & Brazil. Father Dominic, a native of Vietnam, has been in the US for 40 years. He joined the CSsR in 1985 and was ordained a priest in 1990. His ministries during the last 31 years include Foreign Missions, parish pastors, and teaching Moral Theology. Fr. Dominic is currently serving in the St. Alphonsus Community in New Orleans.

Kindly welcome Father Dominic and please give your attention to this important appeal. Thank you in advance for your kindness and hospitality to Rev. Dominic Bao Tran, C.Ss.R

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or in the pews.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (select “Mission Cooperative Program” or MCP on the donation page)

The theme of this year’s World Mission Day – “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20), is a summons to each of us to “own” and to bring to others what we bear in our hearts. This mission has always been the hallmark of the Church, for “she exists to evangelize” (SAINT PAUL VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). Our life of faith grows weak, loses its prophetic power and its ability to awaken amazement and gratitude when we become isolated and withdraw into little groups. By its very nature, the life of faith calls for a growing openness to embracing everyone, everywhere.

On World Mission Day, which we celebrate each year on the penultimate Sunday of October, we recall with gratitude all those men and women who by their testimony of life help us to renew our baptismal commitment to be generous and joyful apostles of the Gospel. Let us remember especially all those who resolutely set out, leaving home and family behind, to bring the Gospel to all those places and people athirst for its saving message.

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or in the parish office.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (select World Mission Sunday)

Father Frank Tinajero, SVD will be with us on the weekend of August 21-22 to speak about the many ministries of his religious community, Divine Word Missionaries. Serving in 81 countries, they build chapels, celebrate the sacraments, and spread the Word of God in remote mission areas. To meet some of the people they help, please subscribe to the Mission Update by clicking here and reading their stories. Over 6,000 missionaries travel to the far corners of the world, building hospitals, educating the poor, and providing drinkable water, food & shelter. These priests and Brothers help people neglected by society to build a better future.  They also foster vibrant Catholic communities of service and faith around the world. This Mission Appeal is part of the Missionary Cooperative Program of our Diocese. Please be generous with your prayers and contribute to the collection to encourage the vital work of Divine Word Missionaries.

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or in the pews.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org (select “Mission Cooperative Program” or MCP on the donation page)

As we journey to the end of a difficult and frightening year, our theme is a shout of courage and faith:

‘Here I am, send me!’

World Mission Sunday is celebrated in every Catholic community in the world. It’s a moment of grace to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in situations of poverty, violence and oppression.

Pope Francis calls on Catholics to support overseas mission financially through World Mission Sunday. As the Holy Father’s official charity for world mission, this is such an important date. We will be inspiring a renewal of mission throughout the month of October, asking Catholics to answer the call to share God’s love.

Envelopes will be in the back of the church or in the parish office.  You may also donate online at www.helpthemissions.org

The Most Reverend James S. Wall, Bishop of Gallup, will be speaking at our masses on August 24 – 25, 2019 supplying us with information on ways that we might help further the mission works in his Diocese. The Diocese of Gallup covers over 55,000 square miles of Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico which encompasses seven Native American reservations and pueblos. It serves 58,000 Catholics and this makes it one of our Nation’s largest and poorest Diocese.

Donations envelopes will be provided in the pews during Mass.  Thank you for your donation.

The theme for World Mission Sunday 2018 is “Through Youth To The World: Voices for Mission.”  Pope Francis addresses his message for this year’s celebration to young people, saying, “In
speaking to you, I also address all Christians who live out in the Church the adventure of their life as children of God. What leads me to speak to everyone through this conversation with you is the certainty that the Christian faith remains ever young when it is open to the mission that Christ entrusts to us.”  Click here for more information.

WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS FOR YOUR MISSION SOLIDARITY!

Fr. Joseph J. Arackal V.C., a Vincentian Missionary Priest from India, will be at St. Gregory the Great Parish the weekend of June 16 & 17 to participate in the Annual Missionary Cooperation Appeal. He will preach at all Masses and will make an appeal on behalf of the Vincentian Missions.

The Vincentian Congregation, was founded in Kerala, India, in 1904, modeled after the Congregation of the Mission founded by St. Vincent de Paul. Members of this flourishing Religious Congregation, all natives of India, are engaged in Mission Work in all parts of India and in several countries in Africa.  The Vincentian Missionaries need our help to carry out their many missionary, educational and charitable activities in their missions worldwide. They need our special financial support for the training of young men studying for the priesthood.

There will be special yellow envelopes in the pews for the mission collection to help the Missionary work of the Vincentian Fathers. We urge you to be generous in your mission offering. Please keep Father Joseph and all the Vincentian Missionaries and seminarians in your prayers.

World Mission Sunday, our annual worldwide Eucharistic celebration for the Missions and missionaries of the world, will be on October 22. This collection on the next-to-last Sunday in October is a unique, global effort for the entire Church to provide for the building up of over one thousand local churches in Asia and Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe. Through the work of these churches, and their witness to Christ, the poor receive practical help and experience God’s love and mercy, His hope and peace.

This year, we are reminded by Pope Francis that Mission is at the Heart of Christian Faith; the materials for World Mission Sunday from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith encourage an ongoing formative relationship for mission, offering portraits of today’s missionaries inspired by the words of our chief missionary, Pope Francis.

DIOCESE OF KUMBAKONAM, INDIA

Father M. S. Selva Raj will speak to us about the Missionary activities and challenges of the Diocese of Kumbakonam, India.

Motivated by the same spirit of Jesus Christ, who went about healing the sick, the diocese carries out the hospital ministry through 2 Leprosy Hospitals, 8 Hospitals, 20 Dispensaries and 2 Homes for the handicapped. The most deserving, the aging, are cared for through 2 Homes for the aged. Taking man in his integrity, the diocese does not fail to look into the social needs of the people. The social works are carried out irrespective of caste and creed having the objective to help the people help themselves. Financial savings, motivation and awareness programs, are just some of their thrusts.

The different pastoral commissions also devote their interest and work towards the parish by conducting seminars, prayer sessions, faith formation, and catechism. They motivate thousands of children and facilitate their education and character formation, however health and hygiene is one of the basic needs of the society.

TODAY IS WORLD MISSION SUNDAY!  In announcing his decision to declare a Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis said, “Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy.”  Supporting the young churches throughout the world with your prayers and generous gifts is indeed a merciful witness of this mission.

The collection today will help missionaries offer the poor of these areas practical help as they share the mercy of God.  It will ensure the development of local dioceses, and support the work of priests, religious and lay leaders who serve those on the margins and in most need.  Extend your merciful witness to the whole world through your gift in today’s collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith!

For more information on the Pontifical Mission Societies of the United States, visit their website: http://www.propfaith.net/onefamilyinmission/WorldMissionSunday.aspx

Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters will visit Saint Gregory the Great Parish on the weekend of August 20-21, 2016 for Mission Cooperative Sunday.  The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters are an international missionary congregation serving in over 50 countries of the world, primarily in rural, poor areas & frontier situations; addressing the needs of the people through education, health care, & socio-pastoral ministry.  Special attention is given to women & children, victims of trafficking, those affected by HIV-AIDS, inter-religious dialogue, & sharing the “Good News” of God’s love.

Through your prayerful accompaniment & generous financial support, the mission of Christ to “go, teach, & proclaim the Gospel to all people” will continue through the work, ministry, & witness of our Sisters.

For more information on the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, their history & ministry in more than 50 countries of the world, visit their websites: www.ssps-usa.org & www.worldssps.org.

We are pleased to welcome Sister Mary Rose Nguyen from Lahore, Pakistan, to share her story in the missions during all the Masses.  Please be prepared to listen and support as the message of mission, evangelization, loving service, and hope is shared.  The proceeds from this Mission appeal will be used to directly support the missionary, the organization, and the people she serves.  Your generous donation unites you as missionary to our brothers and sisters around the world who need our help.

Special envelopes will be available in the pews for your use.