AMERICA/CUBA - World Mission Sunday in Cuba “prayer of thanksgiving for the many missionaries who have come from other countries to share the life of our Church and our country”

Quemado de Guines (Agenzia Fides) - “Let us offer God a prayer of gratitude for the many priests and men and women religious who have come here from other countries with great generosity to share the life of our Church and our country” Fr. Raúl Rodríguez Dago, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Cuba, writes in a letter addressed to dioceses on the occasion of World Mission Sunday, 22 October. Fr Dago says the Day is a "call to awaken and encourage missionary activity in our Christian communities”. To animate celebration of Mission Sunday the PMS office has distributed a special Poster. The Bishops’ Missions Commission has prepared a special liturgical handbook for Masses on 22 October and asked the faithful to pray for a different missionary intention in each of the weeks of October. Copies of Pope Benedict XVI’s Mission Sunday message have been distributed in every diocese and Catholics have been invited to give generously to special collections to be sent to the Universal Solidarity Fund at Propaganda Fide.
The following prayer intentions are proposed for the month of October by the PMS in Cuba: That the Lord may bless the Church in Cuba with priestly missionary vocations; that Cuban Catholic communities may be missionary and welcoming to others; That children and young people who attend catechism or are members of Holy Childhood may carry the Gospel to their families; that Catholic communities may discover and live charity as the soul of mission; That all Catholics will realise that each one is called to bear witness to love, the soul of mission. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 12/10/2006; righe 21, parole 305)