10/14/01

World Mission Sunday at
the Synod of Bishops

As one of four U.S. bishops elected to the Synod of Bishops this October, I’ll be observing World Mission Sunday in Rome. It’s a wonderful place for recognizing again the universal mission of the Church, particularly because this Synod is discussing the vocation of bishop in the Church. Bishops from every country in the world share, from their common faith, a common sense of their vocation; but the context of their ministry shapes each one’s particular sense of mission.

Many bishops have expressed their sympathy and solidarity with the people of the United States because of the attacks last Sept. 11. Cardinal Egan of New York City was allowed to return temporarily to New York for the memorial Mass on Oct. 11 for those who died a month earlier. Oct. 11 was observed by the Holy Father and the bishops gathered for the Synod in Rome as a day of prayer and mourning for those who died in the terrorist attacks. While the Synod is meeting in the Vatican, there are also meetings between Christians and Muslims in the city of Rome, meetings in which Muslim leaders are speaking of peace and Christian leaders of reconciliation. The context of mission is different because of the attacks of Sept. 11.

The speeches given by the bishops at the Synod can be separated generally into three classes. First, many bishops speak about the vocation of the bishop as pastor, of his relationship in Christ to his people. Secondly, other bishops have spoken more about the bishop’s relationship to other bishops—to the Bishop of Rome, to those who help the Holy Father in Rome, to other local bishops in episcopal conferences. The key words in these speeches are communion, collegiality, subsidiarity. Still other bishops spoke, thirdly, about the bishop’s relationship to the world, of the bishop as a sign of hope.

When addressing the world as the context for mission today, the subject of globalization comes up. Globalization means many different things. For some, it means a universal communications network which challenges us to use it well to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For others, it means universal economic systems which, so far, have served to enrich a few and impoverish many. For still others, it means a universal culture, stemming from the United States, which secularizes their proper culture and imposes values foreign to their own experience and history. Globalization is cautiously welcomed by some and vociferously resented by others. For all, however, in some way it sets the context for mission today.

While every bishop has local pastoral responsibilities, each bishop is also ordained for the entire Catholic Church. Bishop Conway went to Greenland last August to commemorate the presence of the Catholic Church there 800 years ago. Bishop Perry visited Uganda recently to help establish lines of communication and communion with Catholics there. Bishop Gregory of Belleville, a former Chicago auxiliary bishop, spent time recently in Sudan, because Catholics and their bishops there are persecuted in the midst of a terrible civil war. At the beginning of the Synod of Bishops, the Holy Father spoke about his recent trip to Armenia for the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the conversion of that country to Christ. A bishop’s horizon is to be as universal as the Church herself.

On World Mission Sunday, every Catholic is invited to see the world with that same universal perspective. For World Mission Sunday 2001, Pope John Paul II has written that mission “is not reserved to just a few; it is for everyone, each in his own state of life.” Mission involves all “who have come into genuine contact with Christ they cannot keep him for themselves; they must proclaim him.” Jesus Christ is the Father’s gift for the salvation of the entire world (John 3:16). In the Archdiocese of Chicago, we have been speaking about sharing Christ and the gifts he brings for all in local efforts to evangelize, to introduce people to Christ in his body, the Church. On World Mission Sunday we have the opportunity to help share Christ and his gifts with the entire world.

The World Mission Sunday collection this year will be used to help local Churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Some of it will be used to help poorer dioceses in the United States and a portion of it will go to the Church in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. A lot of places need help, and my prayer is that many of us will respond generously. As we ourselves face a more uncertain future, it is more than ever necessary for us to be generous. Not only has God been generous to us, but our fellow Catholics, even those from very poor places, are also generous. Bishop Devada Ambrose of Tanjore, India, for example, has a diocese of 207,000 Catholics spread over 74 parishes and 874 mission stations. The majority of his people are landless agricultural workers belonging to a lowly caste. Although many of them live in what we would immediately recognize as extreme poverty, they pray for the mission of the universal Church and last year donated $3,000 to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith for needs in other dioceses.

That story is replicated around the world as the whole Church celebrates World Mission Sunday.

As I listen to bishops from around the world during the Synod, my thoughts are in Chicago. I pray that God will strengthen us in this time of uncertainty; but I also pray that we will think beyond our own difficulties and allow the Holy Spirit to awaken in our hearts the desire to help everyone come to know Jesus Christ. The Second Vatican Council told us that the Church is the home of the poor, that the poor are in the heart of Christ and that all those who know Christ will love the poor. World Mission Sunday is our chance to show this love and increase it.

“It is an urgent call that deserves an immediate and generous answer.… We must set out without delay.… At the beginning of this new century, our steps must quicken as we travel the highways of the world.… May the Lord grant us the gift of perseverance in our missionary duty which is a matter for the entire Church community.” (Pope John Paul II, World Mission Sunday, 2001).

God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.

Back to Archive 2001