News in Missions

A Story That Needs to Be Heard; The Heart of Nuba (Sudan)

A truck carrying a year’s worth of medical supplies, vaccines, and food to the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, where Dr. Tom is the sole surgeon for nearly one million people, had been hijacked and raided.  The clock was ticking loudly.  The rainy season was less than three weeks out. Once it began, there would be no movement possible. People would die.

Jesuits end decades of water shortages in Timor-Leste

According to a 2015 census, more than 830,000 of Timor-Leste's 1.1 million people live in rural areas. About 78 percent of people living in urban areas have access to clean water, but only 64 percent of people do in rural areas, according to Rui de Sousa, director of Timor-Leste National Water and Sanitation Services.

PARISHIONERS’ FURY OVER CHURCH CLOSURE IN WALES

A church in Wales, which recently marked its centenary with a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Wrexham, Peter Brignall, is to close in February, he has announced. Parishioners at St Michael & All Angels Church in Conwy spoke of their “devastation” after a letter was read out, the weekend before Christmas, announcing the last Mass would take place there on 11 February.

Philippine soldiers charged for priest's murder

Dili Diocese grows, helps Timor-Leste progress

World Mission Sunday

Today vast numbers of people still do not know Jesus Christ. For this reason, the mission ad gentes continues to be most urgent. All the members of the Church are called to participate in this mission, for the Church is missionary by her very nature: she was born “to go forth”. World Mission Sunday is one of the most special days in the global Catholic Church. It unites Catholics all over the world in prayer, mutual friendship and support; both spiritual and material. It is a celebration of grace and joy.

Jesuits commit to build peace in South Asia

Father George Pattery, Jesuit provincial of South Asia, said in written statement that regional superiors had specifically vowed to respond effectively, through their ministries, to an alarming rise of fundamentalism within the region.

Spread the Word: Evangelical Mission of the Parish.

 In recent years, we have become familiar with the term “missionary disciple” – a term that is used throughout Evangelii Gaudium (the “Joy of the Gospel”), the first of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortations. This term is used boldly to emphasise the mutual importance of the need both for a relationship with our Lord and the need to serve him in this world by serving our brothers and sisters.

Indian ad against missionaries irks Christians, civil leaders

Jharkhand state in eastern India has produced an advertisement against Christian missionaries, drawing protests from Christian leaders and civil society members who see it as part of a vicious ongoing campaign. That this was being done officially by a state government was shameful, said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary-general of the Indian bishops' conference.

British soldier turned priest to become a bishop in Algeria

A British soldier turned priest who risked his life to rebuild the Church’s presence in Algeria following a spate of attacks against Christians has been appointed by Pope Francis as a bishop in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. 

Heroic nun beats bullies to save children in India

Japanese Catholics celebrate anniversary of hidden communities

Catholics in southern Japan are remembering when two of their hidden communities discovered each other 150 years ago during a time of persecution. In March 1865, while Christianity was still banned in Japan, a French missionary discovered hidden Catholics in Nagasaki. For more than 200 years they had kept their faith in secret and lived without any priests. 

China World Heritage bid for St. Francis Xavier site

Catholic pilgrims hoping to visit the original gravesite of St. Francis Xavier on China's Shangchuan Island on his feast day Dec. 3 will find the site closed for renovation as part of a bid for the UNESCO World Heritage listing. Pope Pius X declared Francis Xavier as a patron saint of all foreign missions.

Pope announces that Mary will be the focus of WYD 2017

Pope Francis has chosen a focus on Mary for the next World Youth Day celebrations, which will be held in dioceses in 2017 and 2018 and with an international gathering in Panama in 2019. The Pontiff said that the Mother of Jesus is 'a role model to be imitated'.

Mongolia's first native priest

Mongolia's first native priest speaks about his mission Catholicism has a patchy history in Mongolia but Father Enkh Baatar wants to change that  It was a historic moment for the Mongolian Catholic Church when the country's first native priest was ordained on Aug. 28. Father Joseph Enkh Baatar, 29, could be the first local to be ordained in a millennium.

Bangladeshi militants charged for shooting Italian missionary

Assailants shot 64-year-old Father Piero Parolari from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions on Nov. 18 in Dinajpur while he was riding a bicycle. Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur expressed hope that justice could be delivered. 

Italian Catholic priest shot three times on his way to work in Bangladesh

Father Parolari Piero, 50, a Catholic missionary and trained doctor from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions was shot several times as he cycled from his morning prayers at the Suihari Catholic Mission to work. Three men who rode past him on a motorcycle are reported to have carried out the attack. 

Controls on religion inside Tibet have intensified

Gyaltsen Norbu, the Panchen Lama installed by the Chinese government, has called for tighter controls over monks to ensure they follow Buddhist precepts in what is already among the most strictly managed Buddhist societies.  Roaming monks not based at any one temple are particularly prone to breaking precepts, Norbu said in rare public comments on Oct. 25 at the Fourth World Buddhist Forum in Wuxi, near Shanghai.

Missionaries weave back together shattered lives in Mindanao, Philippines

In the Philippines, the Claretians specialize in weaving back together the shattered lives of residents, immersing themselves in communities, and focusing on service rather than just evangelizing. The beatification of Romero, a cleric killed by right-wing thugs for his support of the poor and oppressed of El Salvador, comes at a time when the Philippines is polarized by a proposed law that seeks to cement the peace agreement signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Jesuits mark 400 years in Vietnam

More than 3,000 people joined 210 Jesuits in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for the climax of yearlong celebrations marking the arrival of the first Jesuits in Vietnam 400 years ago. Bishop Cosmas Hoang van Dat, the Jesuit bishop of Bac Ninh diocese near Hanoi in Vietnam’s north, celebrated the Mass at the main Jesuit compound in Thu Duc, a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City