Media Diary Notice for the launch of Missio Ireland and World Mission Sunday

15 Oct 2021

You, or a representative, are invited to attend the official launch of ‘Missio Ireland’ and this year’s World Mission Sunday Campaign.  For journalists wishing to attend, please contact the Catholic Communications Office on [email protected] as numbers are limited due to Covid restrictions.  Details:

When      Monday, 18 October 2021, from 2.15pm to 3.15pm
Where    Veritas Store Head Office, Abbey Street, Dublin
Photographs and Livestream     Picture opportunities will be available during the launch and photographer John McElroy (+353 87 2416985) will also be in attendance.  The launch will be livestreamed on https://www.facebook.com/missioireland
In attendance Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly SMA (Chairperson of Missio Ireland); Father Michael P. O’Sullivan, M.Afr. (National Director of Missio Ireland); Sister Kathleen McGarvey, OLA (Board Member of Missio Ireland); and, Ms Julieann Moran (National Secretary for Children’s Branch of Missio Ireland)
   

Sister Kathleen McGarvey, a missionary sister of Our Lady of the Apostles, formed the Women’s Interfaith Council in 2010 in one of the most volatile states in Nigeria, Kaduna.  The WIC has brought over 11,500 Christian and Muslim women together with a vision of a society where both faiths can live in peace.  Sister Kathleen will reflect on her WIC experience and on the efforts by women of both faiths to live in peace by attempting to break the vicious cycle of religiously framed violence and intolerance.

For almost 200 years the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), on behalf of the Pope, have coordinated and collected funding to support mission dioceses and overseas missionaries who deliver projects mostly across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  The Irish branch of the PMS was better known as World Missions Ireland and, ahead of World Mission Sunday on Sunday, it is rebranding as: Missio Ireland.

This year’s message for World Mission Sunday is We Cannot Remain Silent – we cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20).  On World Mission Sunday collections will take place at Masses throughout the Universal Church so that Catholics may give what they can to help support struggling dioceses in the developing world.  Collections promote the work of missionaries in poor and remote communities.  The funds raised will help build vital infrastructure, including churches, medical clinics, nurseries and schools.

ENDS                                                       

For media contact: Catholic Communications Office Maynooth: Brenda Drumm +353 (0) 87 310 4444 and Katie Crosby +353 (0) 86 862 3298