World Mission Sunday: Where Were You Sent?

For the approximately 600 people who braved the elements to gather at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross to celebrate World Mission Sunday on October 18th, there could only be one answer: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! Whether it was to the flag bearers in the Procession of Nations, the ethnic choirs and representatives of their communities who served as lectors, readers and gift bearers -- the call that went out was plain: we are all called to be missionaries by virtue of our Baptism.

Our Mass began with a Welcome Statement from Cardinal Sean O’Malley, read by Fr. Kevin O’Leary, Rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and our host for the day. Cardinal O’Malley asked all present to remember in their prayers all those people in the world who have yet to hear the Gospel proclaimed and the Missionaries who serve them with help from the Propagation of the Faith. Many of those gathered in the pews were missionaries themselves – men and women who have answered God’s call and were sent to serve Him in faraway places; in doing so, they made sacrifices about which most of us will never know.


We focused on one of these very special people during our Liturgy: Fr. Jim Hennessey. A priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Hennessey was sent to serve the Missions in the South Pacific during World War II and was taken prisoner. He died on a P.O.W. transport ship, giving his life so that the people of the Solomon Islands could hear the Gospel proclaimed. Fr. Hennessey’s personal possessions were recently found and gifted to our Boston Mission Office by Archbishop Smith of the Solomon Islands as a token of thanks, not only for the gift of this great missionary and his life, but also for the ongoing help that the Propagation of the Faith sends to his Diocese from ours. Fr. Hennessey’s chalice, ciborium, paten and burse were on display at our World Mission Sunday celebration along with a portrait of the man.

At the end of the Liturgy, we were all sent, as we are at the end of every Mass, “…to love and serve the Lord.” It is a privilege, here at the Propagation of the Faith, to make every attempt to do so – even to the ends of the earth!