RTÉ to broadcast television Mass for Mission Sunday

16 Oct 2009

PRESS RELEASE
16 October 2009

RTÉ to broadcast television Mass for Mission Sunday

Special prayers to be offered for safe and immediate release of
Father Michael Sinnott, Ms Sharon Commins and Ms Hilda Kawuki

This Sunday, 18 October, televised Mass will be broadcast from the RTÉ studios in Donnybrook to celebrate Mission Sunday, the worldwide day of prayer for the missions.  Mission Sunday provides us with an opportunity to focus on the central teaching of Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). 

The Mass will be broadcast on RTÉ 1 Television at 11.15am and Father Eamon Aylward SSCC of the Irish Missionary Union will be the celebrant.  Fr Aylward will be joined by pupils of St David’s Christian Brothers School, Artane and Christian Brothers School, Monkstown, under the banner of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust.

Prayers will be offered at the Mass for the safe and immediate release of Father Michael Sinnott, the Columban priest who was abducted last Sunday in the Philippines and for Ms Sharon Commins and Ms Hilda Kawuki, the two GOAL workers who were kidnapped in Darfur, Sudan, in July, and for all missionaries throughout the world including our 2,000 Irish-born missionaries serving in 83 developing countries.

Welcoming the broadcast of this special televised Mass for Mission Sunday, Bishop Colm O’Reilly, said  “Reach Out is the theme of Mission Sunday 2009 and it has taken on a new meaning inspired by the bravery of our Irish missionaries.  Our prayers, and the generosity of our contributions, greatly support their work while affirming and strengthening missionaries in these difficult times.  Let Father Sinnott, Sharon and Hilda and the many other Irish priests, religious and lay volunteers, be the focus of our prayers for this Mission Sunday.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors
  • Each year Mission Sunday is celebrated throughout the world in order to raise awareness of the centrality of the Church’s call to proclaim the Gospel.  ‘Reach Out’ is the 2009 theme for this Mission month of October.
  • To mark Mission month a special web feature is now available on www.catholicbishops.ie.  The feature comprises an interview with Bishop Colm O’Reilly and includes Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for Mission Sunday on the theme The nations will walk in its light (Rev 21:24), as well as details of the ‘Mission Alive’ celebration that is taking place in October throughout Ireland.
  • Bishop Colm O’Reilly is Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois and Chairman of the Bishops’ Commission for the Missions
Further information:
Martin Long, Director of Communications 086 172 7678