Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples
Pope Leo XIV in his video message for World Mission Day 2025 said, “I urge every Catholic parish in the world to take part in World Mission Sunday. Your prayers, your support will help spread the Gospel, provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories – Help me help the missions.”
What is World Mission Sunday?
Imagine a world where billions of people have never heard the name of Jesus. Imagine villages where people walk miles to attend Mass because there’s no church nearby. Imagine communities where faith is alive but fragile, challenged by poverty or isolation. Imagine churches packed every Sunday, even when those taking part know they are targets of terrorists because of their faith.
This is why World Mission Sunday makes a difference…
Celebrated every year on the second-to-last Sunday of October, World Mission Sunday is the day when Catholics around the world unite to support the missionary work of the Church. Established by Pope Pius XI in 1926, it remains the only annual global collection that directly supports the 1,124 mission territories where the Church is young, struggling, or persecuted. On this day, every parish, in every diocese, in every country, joins in prayer and giving to ensure that missionaries can continue their vital work—building churches, forming priests, supporting catechists, and serving communities in need.
More than a collection…
World Mission Sunday is not just a second collection. It is the Church’s annual call to put the missions and evangelization at the center of our life and parish communities. It reminds us that every Catholic is by baptism, a missionary disciple, and that our own nation was once mission territory, sustained by the very collection we now have the privilege to support. Let us respond – together with each other and with Pope Leo – as Missionaries of Hope among the Peoples.
This year’s theme-“Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples“-is a call to embody the love of God, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5). Your offering today provides hope where despair too often dominates-through the building of churches, formation of seminarians and religious sisters, healthcare clinics, and Catholic schools. Thank you for responding with faith, love, and generosity. As Pope Francis told us, “Each of us is a mission on this earth” (Evangelii Gaudium, 273). Together, we share in that mission by ensuring that no one is excluded from the invitation to encounter Christ.