October 14, 2026 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Today, we celebrate World Mission Sunday, a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. It is a day when Catholics around the world unite in prayer and solidarity to support the missionary work of the Church. We are all called to be a part of this mission work. The Mission Sunday collection helps extend this work to places where the Church barely exists, where the Gospel has never been heard before, and where the Church is too young, too persecuted, or too poor to sustain herself. On World Mission Sunday, we stand in solidarity with the missionaries, priests, religious sisters and brothers, and lay leaders serving in the 1,130 mission dioceses — spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, and the Middle East — that depend on our prayers and financial support to continue proclaiming Christ and building His Church. The year’s World Mission Sunday celebration is unlike any other in our lifetime for two reasons. First, the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen on September 24 reminds us of the importance of the missions. While many know him best for his TV presence, books, and charismatic eloquence, he repeatedly said, “My greatest love has always been for the missions of the Church.” For 16 years, as National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, he poured his talents into World Mission Sunday and distributed the proceeds diligently to the missions. We can surely count on his intercession for World Mission Sunday 2026. Secondly, this World Mission Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of its establishment by Pope Pius XI in 1926. This centenary is an opportunity to mark it with renewed missionary zeal. This year’s theme, “One in Christ, United in Mission,” chosen by Pope Leo XIV, invites us to rediscover the profound unity we share in Christ through baptism and how our baptismal identity overflows into the mission to bring others into communion with God and us. Pope Leo XIV recognizes how important World Mission Sunday is for the Church. He spent a large part of his priestly ministry as a missionary in Peru, serving communities in the Andean highlands and rural villages, and has noted how dependent he was on the support of the Church universal through World Mission Sunday. I am praying that World Mission Sunday will be a blessing for our diocese and help foster increased zeal for the missions within all of us. Let us pray together that the Holy Spirit will renew in us the fire of the early Church, that we might truly be One in Christ, United in Mission, and that we will grow in missionary awareness, solidarity, and responsibility. Gratefully yours in Christ, Most Reverend Terry R. LaValley |
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