Mission work of Church is far from over

BY ARCHBISHOP CHARLES CHAPUT

As we celebrate World Mission Sunday on Oct. 19, we are mindful of our preparations for the coming 2000th anniversary of the birth of our Lord.

This year's focus toward the millennium brings us close to the missions: "Jesus Christ, the one Savior of the world, yesterday, today and forever."

In this message, we understand that the mission work of the Church is far from over. Christ continues to call us to spread the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth today and tomorrow.

Mission continues to change as we welcome new immigrants into our local communities; inviting them to share with us the richness and beauty of their own culture and lived Catholic faith experience.

We are becoming both a sending and a receiving Church, and World Mission Sunday provides us with the opportunity to support mission dioceses from which many of our new United States immigrants come.

This year also marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Propagation of the Faith by a young French laywoman, Pauline Jaricot. The early Church in the United States benefited greatly from the support offered by Catholics of Europe through the Propagation of the Faith. Since then, Catholics here have provided most generously for the work of today's missions in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Pacific Islands and some of our own mission dioceses here in the United States. These mission regions continue to depend on us for continued assistance.

I ask, therefore, for your prayers and most generous help on World Mission Sunday to continue to support the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the world.