Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples

Each year, the Church sets aside the second-to-last Sunday in October to celebrate World Mission Sunday. This year, on Oct. 19, 2025, we join Catholics around the world in remembering and supporting the missionary work of the Church, especially in the 1,124 mission dioceses and territories where the Gospel is still being proclaimed for the first time, where the Church is too poor to stand on its own  and where believers face the very real threat of persecution.

This year’s theme, “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” is especially meaningful as we live out the Jubilee Year of Hope. Inspired by Romans 5:5, we are reminded that “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” That hope is not meant to remain hidden, it is meant to be shared, especially with those who suffer and seek the light of Christ.

Our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has given new energy and urgency to the Church’s mission. As the first American-born pope, and as someone who served for many years as a missionary in Peru, he understands firsthand the joys and struggles of bringing the Gospel to places where it and Christ are not yet known. He has reminded us that The Pontifical Mission Societies are “the primary means of awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized,” and that their work is central to the Holy Father’s care for the Church in mission territories.

Here in our Archdiocese of New Orleans, we have long supported this important work. I myself had the privilege of serving as Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith early in my priesthood. That experience gave me deep appreciation for how the universal Church functions as a family, how prayers and sacrifices from ordinary Catholics here in Louisiana help build churches, schools and hospitals in faraway countries we may never visit.

The people of New Orleans know the power of generosity and resilience. Time and again, we have faced hardship and found hope through the strength of community and faith. And so we understand, perhaps more than most, what it means to be missionaries of hope, to bring light into places of darkness, and to support those who do the same in mission lands around the world.

Our own local Church was once considered mission territory. In fact, in the 19th century, the Church here in New Orleans received support from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, founded by Blessed Pauline Jaricot in 1822. Her vision, that a small offering of one penny a week, joined together with prayer, could build the Church, was a seed that has borne great fruit. Today, the Universal Solidarity Fund established by Propagation of the Faith (one of four Pontifical Mission Societies) continues that work, ensuring that resources are shared with justice and transparency, helping the Church grow where it is young, vulnerable, or threatened.

World Mission Sunday reminds us that the mission of the Church belongs to all of us. Some are called to go. Others are called to support, to give, to pray. But all of us, without exception, are called to be missionary disciples, each in our own way.

We give, not just out of obligation, but out of love, because we know that the Church in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America is not “their” Church, it is our Church. We are one Body in Christ.

Let us not forget those brave missionaries, priests, religious, and lay men and women, who are right now living and working in places of danger, and sacrifice, sharing the Gospel through their presence and works of charity. They are the modern-day Francis Xavier Seelos and Henriette Delille, quietly transforming lives through faith. We may never know their names, but we are called to walk with them through our prayers and generosity.

So this Oct. 19, I invite every parish in our Archdiocese to support the World Mission Sunday collection. Let us reflect on how we can each be “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples.” When we give, we don’t just offer money, we offer solidarity, friendship and the hope that comes from knowing Christ.

Let us embrace the Church’s mission with joy and confidence, trusting that Christ goes before us, and that the hope we share will not disappoint.