Dear brothers,
dear church workers, dear friends of Missio, dear sisters and brothers, in 2050 two thirds of humanity will live in big cities. There are already 38 cities worldwide with more than 10 million inhabitants. In Africa, too, the image of the idyllic round huts in the savannah no longer does justice to the diverse reality of life on the continent. More and more people are migrating from the countryside to the cities in search of better working and living conditions. More and more shantytowns are emerging on their edges, hardly suitable for human settlement, without electricity, water and sewerage. Urbanization presents the Church in Africa with enormous tasks, but also holds many opportunities for pastoral awakening. Cities are also places of liberation, of creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and self-organization. Urban life is diversity.
The Missio campaign for World Mission Sunday 2022 uses the example of Kenya and Nairobi to show how emigration and urbanization in Africa pose new challenges for the local church. Under the motto "I want to give you a future and hope" (Jer. 29:11), initiatives and projects of the church in Kenya are presented that respond to these transformation processes. In terms of missionary pastoral work, they enable people to take matters into their own hands and use individual and community resources. But this year, Missio is not only looking ahead, but also reflecting on its roots. Because the mother of all Missio works worldwide, the Frenchwoman Pauline Jaricot (1799 – 1862), was beatified in May of this year. She will be an unknown to most. But she is a great example and an important personality for evangelization up to our time. Your impulses and initiatives have had a lasting effect. The radiance of her ideas can still be felt today: 200 years ago she developed the brilliant idea of a network of lay people and then initiated the "General Association for the Propagation of Faith" and the Rosary Community with the aim of supporting the young church "in mission". Pray and donate. From this innovative form of spirituality, which focuses on what unites both in prayer and in concrete action, the Pontifical Mission Societies developed 100 years later, including Missio.
In another year of the corona pandemic and a terrible war in Ukraine, we are rediscovering our worldwide connection in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Once again I would like to say a heartfelt blessing to you for all your support through prayer and donation.
Her
Msgr. Wolfgang Huber, National Director Missio in München
World Mission Sunday www.missio.com/aktuelles/sonntag-der-weltmission
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