Missions. Missionaries. These words probably conjure images of jungles, orphanages, jeeps and a religious person — usually a sister, brother or priest — who stands in front of a congregation at a weekend Mass and asks for money (of course, by telling stories that tug at our heart strings.)

Sometimes they have accents that are not easy to understand, which just adds to the mystique of it all.  Missionaries are people who live just a village away from the cannibals; they travel on rafts down the river and baptize pagan babies when we send them five dollars. They grow long beards and wear white cassocks or habits; it is always hot in mission countries, which are always poor. We’re not really sure what our connection is to them, but we know that there is a connection. What is it really all about?

On the third Sunday of October, every year, the Church observes World Mission Sunday. Oh no — another collection. Well, yes, that may be the case. However, the missions, specifically the foreign missions, are not about money. Finances definitely are necessary to carry out some of the programs and institutions that are staffed by the missionaries. Nevertheless, it is more than that; much more than that.

Missionaries are not social workers; they are Gospel workers. Clinics, schools and boarding homes are not the main place of employment for missionaries; we work in churches and chapels. Missionaries live and preach the Gospel to those people and in those areas where the Gospel is not yet known. We call this the mission “ad gentes,” two Latin words meaning “to the nations.” In recent years the Church is calling us to a “new evangelization,” a reawakening of the Faith, a renewal of living together with Christ and in the Church. Missionary work is one of “primary evangelization,” the first announcing of the Gospel to people who have not yet heard it. It is an awakening to the grace of God.  This is what we commemorate on World Mission Sunday: the mission ad gentes.

There are some things that missionaries are not. Missionaries are not proselytizers. We don’t run around baptizing everyone that we encounter. We don’t try to persuade people to “join” the Catholic Church by giving them the necessities of life (food, medicine, an education). We also are not “boy scouts or girl scouts.” Not all mission work takes place in the jungle or among tribes or clans or in small villages. In fact, nowadays it is more common to hear about the mission in the great megalopolises of the world.

I am a homegrown missionary; I was born on the northwest side of Detroit, attended St. Gerard Elementary School and Church (now Corpus Christi Parish). I was sent to the missions, in Japan. Most people would never think of Japan as a country for missionaries. There are no jungles. It is not a third-world country. Nevertheless Jesus Christ and His Gospel are scarcely known and hardly understood by the vast majority of people.

I lived in the world’s largest megalopolis of metropolitan Tokyo, where more than 37 million people live side by side. Japan has a history of Christianity of more than 450 years, yet very few people (perhaps about 1 percent of the population) call themselves Christian. Missionaries are there to “sow the seeds, which others will harvest.” Missionaries are there because everyone is a child of God and has the right to know of the Gospel of Christ and the love God has for them.

Of course, this doesn’t mean your financial assistance isn’t needed. In fact, it is very much needed.  Many (perhaps most) of the areas where missionaries are present are poor and underdeveloped. You can’t preach the Gospel or talk about the love of God when someone doesn’t have enough food to feed their family or someone is suffering from a disease and has no medical aid. The parable of the Good Samaritan answers the questions, “Who is the neighbor I must love?” with the resounding answer, “Everyone! Without discrimination or prejudice to race or religion or language or culture or any other discriminating factor. God loves us all!”

Come! Join in celebrating the faith we share with others around the globe on World Mission Sunday, Oct. 19, at 11 a.m. for Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

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Fr. Ken Mazur is U.S. regional superior for PIME, which is headquartered in Detroit.

 

World Mission Sunday

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron will celebrate Mass on Oct. 19 for World Mission Sunday at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. See the ad on Page 8 for details.