Moodubelle: Around Rs.76,000 collected through auction for Mission Sunday Fund

By Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Moodubelle, 23 October 2011: The parishioners of St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle  opened their hearts and purses generously in raising around Rs.76,000 through auctioning of various articles donated by the parishioners themselves towards the Mission Sunday Fund on Sunday, October 23, 2011 after 7.30 am Mass. This is the fourth cnsecutive year since the practice of raising funds through auction for the Mission Sunday started under the guidance of the Parish Priest-Fr. Joswey Fernandes.

 

The articles of auction donated by the generous parishioners ranged from assortment of vegetables, snacks, cosmetics, clothes, cooked meat, idlis, paper rotis, banana bunches, tender and dry coconuts, picture of Last Supper, etc. Besides, ten fighter cocks and even a calf were presented for auctioning. Fr. Paul Sequeira, and Maxim D’Sa conducted  the auction in the presence of Fr. Joswey Fernandes, Fr. Lancy Saldanha and  Alphonse K. Alva and Mrs. Jacinta D’Souza, Vice President and Secretary of the Parish Pastoral Council. The Stree Sanghatana of the Belle Parish had kept a tea and snacks stall the profit of which was donated to the Mission Sunday Fund.

 

It was indeed a matter of great pleasure to see one of the prominent traders of Belle, Mr. Mukunda Kamath participating in the auction practically every year since it started. This year too, Mukunda Mama made his gracious presence felt by outbidding everyone and lifting the prized cock. He says that he does not mind making donations to the church as he has been abundantly blessed by St. Lawrence. Indeed a great faith in the patron saint of Belle-St. Lawrence.

 

The Mission Sunday Fund of the Belle Parish comprises of the amount collected from the ‘Mission Sunday Boxes’ maintained in individual homes, collection during Masses on Mission Sunday and through the auction of various articles donated by the parishioners. Last year’s (2010) Mission Sunday Fund of the Belle Parish amounted to Rs.1,55,555/- Fr. Joswey Fernandes expressed his hope that this year’s overall collection for the Mission Sunday Fund would to surpass last year’s collection.

 

The concept of the World Mission Sunday originated in 1922 when Pope Pius XI made the Association for the Propagation of the Faith (APF) as the official mission-funding society for the whole Catholic Church. On  April 14, 1926, Pope Pius  XI gave his approval to a  request formulated by the APF which, in a plenary assembly, petitioned the Pope to establish ‘a day of prayer and propaganda for the missions to be celebrated on the same day in every Catholic diocese, parish and institute in the world’. The reasons for the request were clearly stated: ‘The day would foster understanding of the greatness of the missionary task, encourage zeal among the clergy and the people; offer an opportunity to make the APF ever more widely known and encourage offerings for the missions...’

 

 

World Mission Sunday, organized by the Propagation of the Faith, is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. In 2011, World Mission Sunday is celebrated on October 23.

 

As described by Pope John Paul II, World Mission Sunday is "an important day in the life of the Church because it teaches how to give: as an offering made to God, in the Eucharistic celebration and for all the missions of the world."

 

The APF is responsible for coordinating World Mission Sunday and provides new, young or poor dioceses with the essential support they need on their journey to becoming self-sufficient.

 

The APF works through local bishops, churches and missionary congregations to ensure that resources are distributed equitably and justly – on the basis of need rather than depending on particular links or ‘twinning’.

 

Every diocese contributes towards the fund of Universal Solidarity which is then shared out ‘from each according to their resources, to each according to their need’.