Living Dollars

Did you ever see "living dollars"? Well I have -- just a few weeks ago, in Indonesia.

During that mission visit, I met children on the island of Nias who were lovingly cared for by Sisters, both at an orphanage and in a home for children with disabilities. I also got to know parishioners at the only Catholic parish in Banda Aceh on the predominantly Muslim island of Sumatra. As I spent time with the children and the Sisters, and the people of the parish, I realized that I was face-to-face with the living, breathing reality of your contributions to the Pontifical Mission Societies.

On the island of Nias, vocations to the priesthood and Religious life are flourishing. In these vocations, there is great hope, indeed, as local men and women prepare for a lifetime of being our Lord’s presence among their own people. And you are part of that hope, as you support, through prayer and sacrifice, their formation for the priesthood and Religious life through the Society of St. Peter Apostle, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies.

The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy form one such Religious Community. They staff an orphanage on the island of Nias, as well as a school. In fact, your contributions are also helping to rebuild that school which was destroyed by an earthquake in March 2005. How beautiful to watch the loving care these Sisters provide to these children, helping them to realize that they are not alone and that the Lord loves them.




More living examples of your generous response to the Pontifical Mission Societies were found at a home for handicapped and disabled children and young people, also on Nias. It was inspiring for me to watch the Franciscan Sisters as they helped these little ones go through their everyday routines. The smiles and joy on the faces of these children gave witness to the fact that the message of these Sisters -- the "good news" of God's great love for each one of us -- was heard.

And finally there was my visit to Banda Aceh, an area of Sumatra devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004. As I celebrated Mass in the rebuilt Sacred Heart Church -- refurbished with your gifts to the Pontifical Mission Societies -- I realized that here was, perhaps, the greatest living example of all. In this church, the small Catholic community on this Muslim island is able to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus, to be nourished and strengthened by our Lord in the Eucharist.


As I greeted parishioners during the Sign of Peace at the Mass I concelebrated at Sacred Heart Church, I heard from many an extension of that greeting of peace and thanksgiving to each of you who support the Church's evangelizing mission through the Pontifical Mission Societies. I pass that on to you now, and the message of my own great gratitude, having witnessed the living reality of your dollars of support.

Rejoicing Once Again

What could top the celebration of World Mission Sunday -- the day when the world's Catholics unite at the Eucharist to recommit ourselves, through prayer and sacrifice, to the Church's mission to bring Jesus' message of love and hope to a waiting world? Well, there was something -- and it came by e-mail.

First, let's turn back time a bit, to this past spring. Back then, we received a note -- again by e-mail -- from our mission family in the Sudan. Bishop Akio Johnson Mutek of Torit wrote about the return of refugees from his diocese; they came by bus, by truck and on foot. A decades-long Good Friday in that African nation had been transformed into the joy of Easter as these hundreds of refugees -- scattered throughout that African nation and in neighboring Uganda as well -- came home.

War broke out in the Sudan in 1983, with the violence reaching Torit in 1986. Negotiations between 2002 and 2004 resulted in the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, eventually enabling this return of refugees.

As he watched his people return, Bishop Mutek wrote us, he said that he "saw the heart of Jesus." "All the suffering they had endured was before my eyes," he continued. "It was tied to the suffering of our Lord."


As he welcomed them home, Bishop Mutek celebrated Mass, praying and rejoicing with his people.

Just yesterday, on the Thursday after World Mission Sunday, Bishop Mutek wrote again -- with more "good news" of rejoicing. His people, returned from exile just months before, gathered at the Table of the Lord this past Sunday -- just as Catholics here in the United States and throughout the world did -- to celebrate our common vocation to be missionaries.

"The day of my joy, and the joy of the Church," he wrote of World Mission Sunday in Torit in the Sudan. "This World Mission Sunday was one of the best." Indeed, knowing that in the Sudan they were gathered, along with all of us here, to rejoice in the mission of all the baptized, is cause for great joy indeed. What could top the celebration of World Mission Sunday? Only more such "Good News" from the Missions!