One in Christ, United in Mission

October 5, 2026 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

As we gather this World Mission Sunday, October 17th & 18th, we celebrate a powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. It is a day when Catholics around the world unite in prayer and solidarity to support the missionary work of the Church. 

In his last words before ascending to heaven, Jesus told us, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19), and for 2,000 years the Church has been at work in this task. And we are far from finished! Two-thirds of the people alive - 5.5 out of 8.1 billion - still have no relationship with Christ or his Church. Bringing people to Jesus is the work of the Church, and all of us together have a part to play. 

The second collection we take up on World Mission Sunday helps extend the Church's missionary work to places where the Church barely exists, where the Gospel has never been heard before, and where the Church is too young, too persecuted, or too poor to sustain herself. 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday's establishment by Pope Pius XI in 1926. This centenary is an opportunity to mark it with renewed missionary zeal. This year's theme, "One in Christ, United in Mission," chosen by Pope Leo XIV, invites us to rediscover the profound unity we share in Christ through baptism and how our baptismal identity overflows into the mission to bring others into communion with God and us. 

Pope Leo recognizes how important World Mission Sunday is for the Church. He spent a large part of his priestly ministry as a missionary in Peru, serving communities in the Andean highlands and rural villages, and has noted how dependent he was on the support of the universal Church. 

Now, the Holy Father appeals to us: "Please help me help missionaries everywhere." That's what the World Mission Sunday collection does. 

I am praying that World Mission Sunday will be a blessing for our diocese and help foster increased zeal for the missions within all of us. Let us pray together that the Holy Spirit will renew in us the fire of the early Church, that we might truly be "One in Christ, United in Mission," and that we will grow in missionary awareness and solidarity. 

In Hope, united in Christ's mission,

Most Rev. James P. Powers, Bishop of Superior

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