Dear sisters and brothers,
In May of this year, a remarkable woman, little known in Germany, was beatified in Lyon: Pauline Jaricot, a 19th-century French woman. Under the impression of the beginning industrial revolution, the sixteen-year-old recognized that people need both: liberation from undignified living conditions and a spirituality that gives them hope. For Jaricot, it made no difference whether people lived in France or, as we would say today, in the Global South. A staunch Catholic, she organized a network of material support and prayer that soon grew into a worldwide movement.
Throughout her life, Pauline Jaricot has been about creating ways to live more fulfilling lives for those struggling to make a living. With her initiative she changed the church permanently. Missio is also part of this network, which began 200 years ago. Pauline's story is our story. Today it continues in women and men who are just as passionate about helping the destitute and the marginalized. People like Father Firmin Koffi, Linet Mboya or Sister Mary Wambui, whom we introduce to you in this campaign booklet.
This year's Missio campaign in World Mission Month is about big-city pastoral work in Nairobi, Kenya. As I write this, a record high in the price of wheat is being reported. I wonder what this means for the people who are struggling to survive in the slums of the metropolis because drought, hunger and hopelessness make life in the countryside unbearable. Will the network of neighborly help last? Will the youth be able to resist the temptation of the drug gangs? Will the girls be able to finish their education?
World Mission Sunday 2022 is under the prophetic word of Jeremiah "I will give you a future and hope". Let's continue the story of Pauline Jaricot together. Make universal church solidarity in prayer and donation a topic, for example at an "Evening with Pauline" or a solidarity meal under the motto "The world at one table".
With sincere sympathy
Her
Fr. Dirk Bingener, National Director Missio in Aachen
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