October 16, 2009
Bishop Gettelfinger's Letter for World Mission Sunday 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
At Baptism, Jesus adopted each of us as His brother or sister. In doing so, He calls us to share our faith with those around us. As He sent the Apostles, He now sends us to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.
Jesus Himself, before He returned to the Father, promised His followers the Holy Spirit and charged them with being His “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
That mission now belongs to each one of us. We are to support, in prayer and sacrifice, the work of missionaries who bring the “Good News” of Jesus to faraway places — to Africa and Asia, to the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America.
On World Mission Sunday, celebrated this year on October 18, the Catholics of the world unite at Mass to recommit ourselves to this Baptismal vocation to be missionaries. As we pray and respond here at home, we are in communion with all our brothers and sisters throughout the world in every parish and chapel and where two or three are gathered in prayer. Your generosity through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith will reach those who await the “Good News” of Jesus, who long to experience His hope and love.
More than 1,150 young churches in the Developing World count on your generous response this World Mission Sunday. Please also continue to pray that all of us in the Diocese of Evansville may be eager and effective witnesses of Jesus, as He sent us to be.
May St. Therese, the Little Flower, Patroness of the Missions, intercede for all of us as we strive to faithfully fulfill our role as missionaries!
Faithfully yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Gerald A. Gettelfinger
Bishop of Evansville