Throughout the month of October this year the Universal Church is celebrating Extraordinary Missionary Month (EMM) which includes World Mission Sunday, on 20^th October.

Attached are a range of resources to help in the celebration of this special month, including a PowerPoint presentation which includes the EMM prayer which Pope Francis has proposed, snippets from the Pope’s Mission Day message and from Maximum Illud, the apostolic letter written by Pope Benedict XV dated 30^th November 1919, which you might like to use as a guide for your homilies.

Liturgy suggestions to celebrate the Extraordinary Mission Month could include:

1. The EMM Prayer can be said at weekend Masses leading up to and throughout October.
2. Give the youth of your parish the task of preparing a slideshow or video about their concept of Mission. What does it mean to them? Ask the younger parishioners to form groups and prepare posters promoting Extraordinary Missionary Month and Mission Sunday with the help of their families (you can turn it into a competition).
3. Prayers of the Faithful: Ask the different ethnic groups in your parish to prepare a prayer in their own language for missionaries throughout the world.
4. Liturgical dance introducing the Gospel or offertory procession.
5. Ask a parishioner to speak about his/her experience of a missionary in their life and how it has had an impact on them.
6. Use the slides in the PowerPoint to highlight relevant points, you can change the slides to suit your homily.

"I urge you to approach this occasion with great energy and enthusiasm and get as many people involved, especially young people, to keep up the momentum in reviving and promoting awareness of Mission throughout the Mission month and beyond," says SVD AUS Province Mission Secretary Fr Truc Quoc Phan.

Resources Links

Message from Pope Francis for World Mission Sunday

Maximum Illud - Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XV, 1919

document Extraordinary Mission Month Powerpoint

document Prayer for Extraordinary Mission Month Oct 2019

document Liturgy Notes - Extraordinary Mission Month