About Mission Sunday
Mission Sunday takes place each year on the second last Sunday of October, the traditional month of universal mission.
The collection is organised annually by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and is celebrated in every Church throughout the world, including the poorest.
Mission Sunday provides Catholics with the opportunity to unite with their missionary brothers and sisters, and to recommit themselves to the Church's missionary activity, through prayer, sacrifice and financial contribution. Funds raised are used to assist Young Churches and missionaries in reaching out to communities in need, both spiritually and materially.
In October 2008, Irish Catholics contributed over €2.5 million to the Propagation of the Faith collection. Contributions will be used to build simple mission churches, to educate seminarians and assist in the formation of lay leaders.
The Mission Sunday gift will also used for the building of health clinics for children, emergency aid in times of war or natural disaster and to assist missionaries in their efforts to care for refugees.
The theme for Mission Sunday 2009 is 'Reach Out', and universally the collection will take place on Sunday 18th October. The theme echoes the true reality of mission work, recognising the many levels on which Irish Missionaries are reaching out to the peoples of the world on a daily basis. The five missionaries featured on the poster originate from counties throughout Ireland and have each been serving on mission for over thirty years. Each of them have sacrificed their own quality of life in order to bring dignity, care and hope into the lives of so many people living in mission countries.