Maryknoll Father John Barth, a missionary from the United States, talks with Pah Kler, a Burmese Catholic catechist, as rice is loaded on boats in Mae Sam Laep, a Thai village on the Salween River, Sept. 29, 2022. The Catholic Church's annual World Mission Sunday observance, which is Oct. 20, 2024, is a day to renew the church's commitment to missionary work and to show solidarity with those who share the faith overseas. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Paul Jeffrey)CHARLOTTE — Each year, churches around the world commemorate World Mission Sunday to highlight, encourage and promote the Catholic Church's missions around the world.
The day, which was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926, is observed on the penultimate Sunday of October, and a worldwide collection is made to provide financial support for the Pontifical Mission Societies and its missions in some 1,100 dioceses worldwide. This year's commemoration takes place Oct. 20.
However, for Father Anthony Andreassi, interim national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, the collection is more than just an annual donation to less fortunate churches but rather a reminder of the "reciprocal relationship" shared by all Catholics.
"It is decidedly not just -- to use older terms -- the First World donating money to the Third World," Father Andreassi told OSV News Oct. 14. "No, it's a common humanity and for us as baptized Catholics, a common faith. That's so much of the importance of the annual World Mission Sunday."
Serving as interim national director since February, Father Andreassi oversees U.S. efforts to raise awareness of the Universal Solidarity Fund, which supports "the Holy Father's missions throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, as well as parts of Latin America and Europe," according to the organization's website.
Father Andreassi has visited eight seminaries this year to speak with seminarians about the Pontifical Mission Societies and how they function, as well as the reality of church's missionary activity, and how Catholics in the United States can support the missions.
Much of the money that goes into the Universal Solidarity Fund, which aids Catholic missions worldwide, comes from the annual collections on World Mission Sunday. Father Andreassi told OSV News that the collections particularly benefit missions where the church is "new, poor or persecuted."
"Like a newborn child who needs tremendous help from his or her parents, when the church is very new in a place, it needs help from parts of the church that have achieved adult stature," he explained.
He also noted that until 1908 the Catholic Church in the United States benefited from the same kind of support.
"For the first 200 or 250 years of Catholic activity here in the United States, we were heavily reliant on Europe for support for priests, for religious, for money," Father Andreassi said. "And now, for the last 116 years or so, that has been our obligation now."
Today, he explained, countries where the church is new, young or persecuted are in the so-called Global South, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and much of Asia.
While some churches in more politically stable countries are "in better shape," there are many that remain persecuted, such as Nigeria. However, in countries like South Sudan, "there is violence, there is civil unrest, but the church continues to move forward, both in preaching the faith as well as ministering to those who are suffering."
Father Andreassi highlighted the importance of the World Mission Sunday collection and the support it provides missions worldwide through grants that fund various proposals, such as the formation of catechists and seminarians, support for religious sisters and brothers in novitiates, funding for Catholic schools, as well as "the corporal works of mercy, such as hospitals, orphanages and feeding stations."
The U.S., he noted, "provides about 40% of the entire budget that is distributed throughout the world annually."
While the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought the amount of the national collection down, Father Andreassi said that thanks to diocesan directors and national staff, "we have been seeing an increase in the World Mission Sunday collection."
"Last year, for 2023, (the collection) went up 9.1% and we had more participation from dioceses. So, we are moving in the right direction," he said.
However, Father Andreassi also told OSV News that even countries that benefit from the collection have contributed.
"I visited Malawi last December and they were showing us pictures and videos of their World Mission Sunday collection six weeks earlier," he said. "Rome refers to this as the (Universal Solidarity Fund) because we're all in this together. We're absolutely in this together."
"Although a country like Malawi, which is the eighth poorest country in the world in absolute numbers, does not send much money to this solidarity fund, their mission animation and the way they talk about the missions amongst their young people, as well as all their parishes, is an inspiration to the rest of us and we learn from each other because of that," he added.
Nevertheless, for Father Andreassi, the practical and material support, while important, remains secondary. World Mission Sunday is an opportunity for Catholics to be reminded "of our connection to our fellow believers around the world," he said.
"We hear the stories (that are) really testimonies of their embrace of the faith, their commitment to the faith in the face of tremendous adversity and suffering," Father Andreassi told OSV News. "That serves as an inspiration to us and the witness of their lives is a gift to us. And whatever treasure that we can share with them is our gift to them."
— Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News