Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Czestochowa (Agenzia Fides) – For World Mission Sunday, several parishes in the Archdiocese of Czestochowa organized encounters with missionaries from Cameroon, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea. The missionaries gave their testimonies during the Mass and prepared a special missionary catechesis. The missionaries also presided a time of prayer for the missions and a special missionary Rosary.
“I think that there is a great need to present the missionary situation, in the parishes of Poland. The faith needs to be explained to the people of Africa. We should reveal the dramatic situation of the African continent, where so many people die from poverty. We should offer an authentic testimony on the situation of the children in Rwanda,” Fides was told by Father Jan Kedziora, who led the encounter held in the parish of Saint James, in downtown Czestochowa. “These encounters with the faithful are a means to promote the missions within our Dioceses. This is how the missionary spirit of the Church is promoted among the youth, the families, the schools, and parishes,” said Fr. Jacek Gancarek, Diocesan Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Czestochowa.
There are currently 13 priests and 3 lay missionaries of the Archdiocese of Czestochowa work in the various countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Cameroon, Zambia, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Ecuador, Philippines, Tunisia) and in Eastern Europe (Belarus and the Ukraine). There are many groups of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the parishes of the Archdiocese of Czestochowa and in the schools, during religion class, the missions are often mentioned.
The Pontifical Mission Societies of Czestochowa also organize “Missionary Workshops” over the course of the year, for creating missionary awareness. The workshops are attended by priests, religious, catechists, missionary animators, and all leaders of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the parishes of the Archdiocese. During the workshops, several missionaries present their testimony and the missionary situation in general, the challenges for the Church in the area of evangelization. (MF/SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/10/2008)
