In the Diocese of Columbus, the collection for the Home Missions will be taken on the weekend of June 4-5.
In 2021, the faithful in the diocese contributed $47,110 to this special collection. I thank you for your generosity on behalf of Bishop Earl Fernandes and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) committee in charge of the collection.
Home Missions in the United States and its territories cannot exist on their own. Approximately 40% of U.S. dioceses are designated as “missions” by the USCCB.
Mission dioceses lack the resources to provide basic pastoral services. These dioceses struggle with severe shortages of priests, poverty among parishioners, difficult or isolated terrain, religious hostility and other circumstances that hinder efforts to spread the faith.
The Second Vatican Council is particularly eloquent on this point relative to the role of the laity – they are to “make Christ visible for others.” (Lumen Gentium, n.31) The smallest Catholic populations tend to exist in rural areas of the South, such as in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and the Carolinas; in Appalachia; and in the Caribbean.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a catastrophic impact on our lives. Jobs have been lost, travel restricted, even access to churches has been limited.
The Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Church in the Caribbean. Former Bishop Herbert A. Bevard says that without Catholic Home Missions funds, the diocese wouldn’t exist.
“In spite of the challenges here and with help of Catholic Home Missions many people who love and support us, we are able to do a good job as missionaries for Jesus Christ and His Church. It would be a terrible thing if we didn’t have Catholic Home Missions at our back and our side as we strive to be a good, vibrant, life-giving church.
“In the Virgin Islands, you have evangelization on its feet. It is not just talking or wishing or hoping or planning, but bringing many people to know Christ and His Church much better.” (Catholic Home Missions, Newsletter, Issue 1 2021)
Mission dioceses do marvelous work among non-Christians, the urban poor and minorities. They also promote mission awareness and vocations and train seminarians for missionary work. Their service eases the suffering of the poor.
For example, Glenmary missionaries exclusively serve the poor in rural U.S. missions. Their ministries include building Catholic communities, evangelizing the unchurched and conducting social outreach throughout Appalachia and the South.
Home missionaries are supported by freewill offerings and they support poor families with food drives, coat drives, etc. Let us remember the message of Pope Francis to the Pontifical Mission Societies: “A special care for the little ones and the poor. Any missionary impulse, if derived from the Holy Spirit, manifests predilection for the poor and vulnerable as a sign and reflection of the Lord’s own preference for them.
“Those directly involved with the Church’s missionary initiatives and structures should never justify their lack of concern for the poor with the excuse, widely used in particular ecclesiastical circles, of having to concentrate their energies on certain priorities for the mission. For the Church, a preference for the poor is not optional.” (Vatican news, May 21, 2020)
Our help for the poor is a priority because God wants us to be sharers of our resources with minorities and the vulnerable.
The USCCB’s Catholic Home Missions collection helps to fund 84 dioceses and eparchies in the United States and its territories.
Thank you for your sacrificial response and for all you do for the mission work of the Church. May our prayers, sacrifices and financial support for the missions bring the expansion of the reign of Christ who shed His blood for all mankind.