As all of us reached out in prayer and generosity to the suffering in our country, especially to those in New Orleans, the people of the missions prayed and sent help as well, even in those areas ravaged by the tsunami of December 2004. From Sri Lanka came monetary help; from India came an outpouring of prayers; and in Ghana the bishops there appealed for contributions at special September Sunday collections to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In times of tragedy – natural disaster, war, and persecution – our mission family looks to the Church and her missionaries for help and hope. World Mission Sunday celebrates our unity as a human family and provides an opportunity to support the life-giving presence of missionaries and of the Church among the suffering and the poor of the missions.

On the weekend of October 22-23, 2005, we unite with Catholics around the world at the Eucharistic Table in a special commitment to the missionary task. We should pray for the Church’s missionary work and offer our personal sacrifices, our own sufferings, our cares and concerns, in union with the sufferings of Christ on the Cross for the salvation of the world. All of us should also provide financial help through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to aid the Church’s work in more that 1,150 dioceses throughout the missions.

The missionary work of the Church depends on each one of us. As I ask you to keep your brothers and sisters of the developing world in your prayers on World Mission Sunday, I seek your continuing prayers as well for the people in our own country who are in need, especially in the Gulf states. Pray also that all of us in the Diocese of Scranton may be eager and effective witnesses to God, our loving Father, and to His only Son, Jesus Christ.

Asking God to bless you, I am,

Sincerely in Our Lord,

Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.
Bishop of Scranton