World Missions

I want to continue talking about evangelism and, in that vein, world missions. I’ve been doing some internet research on this in the Catholic Church and it’s been interesting. Frankly, I’ve found it difficult to find a great deal of specific information. There seems to be a good bit of activity out there, but it seems to vary greatly in scope and ultimate purpose. That is, some missionary work seems to be centered on relief work alone while other work seems to be service with an evangelistic goal. Good work is good work I guess, but I’m really interested in evangelistic mission work where you seek to be and share the Gospel of Christ in a direct manner. As an Episocpalian my wife and I worked at a mission-sending organization and really developed a heart for missions work. She has had several trips to places like Chile, Costa Rica and Honduras. I had the priveledge as an Episcopal priest of leading a mission trip to Ecuador which was an incredible experience. I’d love to find a solid missions organization in the Catholic Church that encourages short-term mission experiences and facilitates the sending of missionaries. Any thoughts?

I found this really nice presentation at the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. It’s a rosary designed by Archbishop Fulton Sheen (who served as head of the SPF) that encourages prayer and reflection on the Mission work of the church. Here’s a snippet from the SPF website:

“In February of 1951, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966), in a radio address (The Catholic Hour), inaugurated a World Mission Rosary. “We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world. To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary. Each of the five decades is of a different color to represent the continents.”

Each decade of that World Mission Rosary calls to mind an area where the Church continues her evangelizing mission: GREEN for the forests and grasslands of AFRICA; BLUE for the ocean surrounding the ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC; WHITE symbolizing EUROPE, the seat of the Holy Father, shepherd of the world; RED calling to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the AMERICAS, and YELLOW, the morning light of the East, for ASIA.”

The SPF has a great online presentation of this rosary which you can access here>>>

You can also order your own World Mission Rosary here >>>

Please let me know any information you have about missions in the Catholic Church.

Chris, Ed., H2R

Top photo credit: Florida Catholic