Fr. Jerome
Pope Francis has set October 2019 as an Extraordinary Missionary Month to foster greater awareness of “missio ad gentes” and to animate the missionary transformation of Church life and pastoral activity.
A 100th Anniversary
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), the “missionary pope,” wrote the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, in 1919. Pope Francis wants the Church to celebrate the 100th anniversary of this foundational mission document.
In 1919, in the wake of a tragic global conflict that he himself called a “useless slaughter,” the Pope recognized the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous.
Pope Francis goes on to quote and comment on Pope Benedict’s prophetic insight into the centrality of mission for the Church; a Church that just survived the rigours of World War I and was forty years away from Vatican II.
“The Church of God is universal; she is not alien to any people,” he wrote, firmly calling for the rejection of any form of particular interest, inasmuch as the proclamation and the love of the Lord Jesus, spread by holiness of one’s life and good works, are the sole purpose of missionary activity. Benedict XV thus laid special emphasis on the “missio ad agents”, employing the concepts and language of the time, in an effort to revive, particularly among the clergy, a sense of duty towards the missions.
The Holy Father outlined the rational for this celebration of the 100th anniversary to Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, in a letter dated October 22, 2017, the Memorial of St. John Paul II and World Mission Sunday.
The Extraordinary Mission Month will be an opportunity to "renew the missionary zeal," and "introduce the missionary dimension in ordinary pastoral care," according to the President of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). Vatican Council II - and Ad Gentes - established the call of mission as the call to all who are baptized. The theme is "Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on a mission in the world." https://uscatholicmission.org/extraordinary-mission-month-2019
Pope Francis has set October 2019 as an Extraordinary Missionary Month to foster greater awareness of “missio ad gentes” and to animate the missionary transformation of Church life and pastoral activity.
A 100th Anniversary
Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), the “missionary pope,” wrote the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, in 1919. Pope Francis wants the Church to celebrate the 100th anniversary of this foundational mission document.
In 1919, in the wake of a tragic global conflict that he himself called a “useless slaughter,” the Pope recognized the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous.
Pope Francis goes on to quote and comment on Pope Benedict’s prophetic insight into the centrality of mission for the Church; a Church that just survived the rigours of World War I and was forty years away from Vatican II.
“The Church of God is universal; she is not alien to any people,” he wrote, firmly calling for the rejection of any form of particular interest, inasmuch as the proclamation and the love of the Lord Jesus, spread by holiness of one’s life and good works, are the sole purpose of missionary activity. Benedict XV thus laid special emphasis on the “missio ad agents”, employing the concepts and language of the time, in an effort to revive, particularly among the clergy, a sense of duty towards the missions.
The Holy Father outlined the rational for this celebration of the 100th anniversary to Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, in a letter dated October 22, 2017, the Memorial of St. John Paul II and World Mission Sunday.
The Extraordinary Mission Month will be an opportunity to "renew the missionary zeal," and "introduce the missionary dimension in ordinary pastoral care," according to the President of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). Vatican Council II - and Ad Gentes - established the call of mission as the call to all who are baptized. The theme is "Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on a mission in the world." https://uscatholicmission.org/extraordinary-mission-month-2019