Mission Sunday 2012 will be celebrated around the world on Sunday 21 October, which aptly occurs while Pope Benedict along with Cardinals and Bishops are gathered for the Synod on the New Evangelisation.
The main office of the Pontifical Mission Society of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome decides where the Mission Collection should go says Fr Bernard Espiritu, National Director of Missionz.
This year, says Fr Espiritu, New Zealand has been requested for “support to go to the missionary work of Fr Alpha Mazenga SVD, a Divine Word Missionary, who works with street kids in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and the work of Fr Eugene Docoy and other Divine Word Missionaries who work with him in the rubbish tip and with the street kids of Cebu City in the Philippines.”
“We also would like to help a community in Kiribati. The community would like to renovate their maneaba. It is a traditional meeting place of people especially the youth and children. It is used for various activities including their catechism and other faith formation activities,” says Fr Espiritu.
Missionz is the New Zealand national office of the worldwide Pontifical Mission Societies. The three societies are:
- Propagation of the Faith – supporting Bishops in Missionary Dioceses
- St Peter the Apostle – to fund seminarians and religious in mission territories
- Holy Childhood – to support health and religious formation needs of mission children
The objective of Missionz is to promote awareness of the mission of the Catholic Church – to present the good news of Jesus Christ to all peoples, and to generate spiritual, material and financial support for those working in mission and third world territories.
The Pontifical Mission Societies have the common aim of assisting the Holy Father in spreading missionary awareness among priests, religious, adults and children; encouraging aid to the poor, and gathering financial support for different projects in third world countries. The funds collected during the year by the Pontifical Mission Societies are sent directly to mission dioceses in need, as decided at Council in Rome each May.
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