Mission Sunday 2026

 

Mission Sunday 2026

 

On the second-last Sunday of October each year, Catholics across Ireland join millions of people around the world in celebrating World Mission Sunday. In parishes large and small, prayers are offered for missionaries, collections are taken up, and attention turns to communities whose needs often remain far from the public eye.

In 2026, this annual celebration reaches a significant milestone: its 100th anniversary. AMRI works with Missio, Missean Cara to collaborate on the broadcast mass.

World Mission Sunday is celebrated on the penultimate Sunday of October, and so this year falls on the 18th, this coming Sunday. Every parish will celebrate World Mission Sunday, but you can watch the World Mission Sunday Mass live from from the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles on RTE 1 at 11am. Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly will celebrate.

Established by Pope Pius XI in 1926, World Mission Sunday was conceived as a universal expression of solidarity, bringing Catholics together to support the missionary work of the Church. Today, the collection forms part of a global fund that helps sustain churches and communities in more than 1,100 mission territories, supporting everything from seminaries and catechists to schools, healthcare, parish buildings and emergency assistance.

The Irish missionary story did not begin in 1926. Its roots reach much further back, but the twentieth century saw an extraordinary expansion of Irish Catholic missionary activity, fueled by independence and a sense of national pride. In the decades following independence, missionary societies and religious congregations became a familiar part of Irish life. The Columban Fathers, the Kiltegan Fathers, the Society of African Missions, the Holy Rosary Sisters, the Medical Missionaries of Mary, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles and many other congregations sent priests, brothers and sisters across the world.

For many Irish families, the departure of a son or daughter for the missions was a moment of immense pride, mixed with the sadness of knowing that visits home might be rare. Missionaries were often young when they left, and some spent most of their working lives thousands of miles from Ireland.

We are grateful to RTE and Scratch TV for their assistance.

100th Anniversary Mission Sunday

https://theway.ie/100th-anniversary-of-world-mission-sunday/

 

Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly

https://theway.ie/rte-to-broadcast-mass-from-thurles-for-centenary-year-of-world-mission-sunday/