Three boys hold out yellow roses to members of a 2019 delegation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on a mission trip to the Diocese of Vijayapuram, India, organized by the Center for Mission. As part of its mandate to promote mission outreach, the Center for Mission coordinates the collection for World Mission Sunday, held annually on the last Sunday in October, which benefits mission dioceses around the world, including the four dioceses visited by Catholics profiled here. The Center for Mission is the local representation of the Pontifical Mission Societies, which include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith founded in 1822 by Blessed Pauline Jaricot, who was beatified in May MARIA WIERING | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Celebrating the universal Church

After separate missionary trips to Alaska, India, Jamaica and Kenya, four witnesses of Christ in others and of his love in their own lives share some of their experiences of the universal Church with The Catholic Spirit this World Mission Sunday.

Each is a parishioner in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Each visited mission dioceses supported by the pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith. And they will join Catholics in every corner of the globe on the second to last Sunday of October — this year Oct. 23 — to celebrate and assist the spreading of Christ’s example and teaching.

“It’s not just us,” Deacon Mickey Friesen, director of the Center for Mission in the archdiocese, said of the universal character of World Mission Sunday. “We’re journeying with everybody.”

“You shall be my witnesses” is this year’s theme for the Oct. 22-23 collections in parishes for mission dioceses, Deacon Friesen said. That eighth verse of Acts 1 reads in full: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In modern parlance, that could be interpreted to mean witnesses to Christ in a given zip code, diocese, nation and beyond, Deacon Friesen said. Everyone in this effort is equal, even while facing different challenges and opportunities, he said.

In addition to collections at Masses, people can contribute to the missionary impact of the Church by mailing in donations to the Center for Mission using an envelope in this issue of The Catholic Spirit. People wishing to donate online can do so anytime at centerformission.org.

“We are all baptized. We all have needs. And we all have gifts,” Deacon Friesen said. “When we collaborate together, we uncover each other’s gifts.”

‘You are witnesses of these things’

Blessed Pauline Jaricot, Founder of Society for the Propagation of the Faith

Visitor received with joy by Native Alaskans

Witness to life in India sees vibrant faith, the universal Church

Minnesota missionary blessed by Jamaicans’ strong family bonds

Finding common ground with Kenyan women inspires missionary’s faith