EUROPE/SPAIN - “Set out, you are a missionary!”: slogan for Holy Childhood Day on Sunday 28 January

Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - “Set out, you are a missionary!”: is the slogan chosen by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain for Holy Childhood Day celebrated by that local Church on Sunday 28 January. “Set out” because “the missionary vocations means reaching out to others and revealing to them with witness and word God’s love"; "you are a missionary" because "every baptised person regardless of human or ecclesial condition, who lives in faith the experience of love for others, is strengthened in the missionary vocation". The aim of Holy Childhood Day is to help children and adolescents forget themselves and join mission groups in parishes, or schools or Christian associations to take part in small and great missionary activities and promote among the faithful economic solidarity with less fortunate children in mission territories. “Children need urgent help in the field of education to realise that life is a great gift of God” said Military Ordinary, Bishop Francisco Pérez González, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain. “Childhood is enslaved by materialism, by the absence of values and ever present images of violence. Children who are not taught to be generous and courageous to live goodness, and practice healthy habits, can in the future be a threat for society". Bishop Pérez calls on children in Spain "to give generously to support Holy Childhood projects".
A PMS Holy Childhood Day Dossier produced for the occasion reveals the terrible situation of children in the world suffering from hunger, disease, and war, forced labour, abandoned by family and society without schooling. Suggestions on how to celebrate Holy Childhood Day include subjects for catechism and religious education; a liturgical guide; a CD with music and interviews; un DVD on the Pontifical Holy Childhood Society and a Missionary Path for Children which follows the liturgical year, material and suggestions for missionary animation of children. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 24/1/2007; righe 28, parole 390)