This month, Catholics around the world will celebrate a landmark moment in the life of the Church: the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday.
Established in 1926 by Pope Pius XI at the request of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, this annual day of prayer, sacrifice, and giving has united the global Church for a full century in her most defining task: the Great Commission — which was given by Jesus on the day He ascended into Heaven.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19).
World Mission Sunday falls each year on the second-to-last Sunday of October. This year, that is Oct. 18. On this day, every parish in every diocese across the world celebrates a shared vocation: to proclaim Christ to the ends of the earth.
World Mission Sunday is not merely a fundraising appeal, though the offerings collected that day are distributed by the Pontifical Mission Societies on behalf of the Holy Father, and they sustain missionary priests, brothers, sisters, catechists, and seminarians in some of the world’s poorest and youngest churches.
Here, in the Diocese of Allentown, the fruit of that generosity can be observed by looking at the work of Sr. Lisa Valentini, M.S.C., a Missionary Sister of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, who has spent more than 40 years doing missionary work in Peru, Haiti, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
Sr. Lisa’s ministry — teaching children, running orphanage outreach, and staffing mission posts far from home — depends directly on the kind of offerings collected on World Mission Sunday. Without the generosity of the Catholics in the pews, Sr. Lisa couldn’t sustain years-long postings in places where the Church is young, poor, or under strain.
Looking back, Sr. Lisa said she’s taken 74 groups of people – some from parishes and schools right here in the Diocese of Allentown — on mission trips, which she described as “sharing the message of God’s love with His people.” She said “that is the essence of marking this Centennial Anniversary of World Mission Sunday — because the mission is love.”
This year’s World Mission Sunday theme, “One in Christ, United in Mission,” speaks directly to the anniversary. Pope Leo XIV, addressing the Pontifical Mission Societies this past June, reflected that — for a century — this day has been set apart for prayer and sacrifice especially in those places “where the proclamation of the Gospel is only just beginning and where the Church is still young.”
The theme calls usthe faithful to a deeper communion with one another precisely so that this shared mission might be carried forward with renewed vigor.
For parishioners, the invitation remains the same as it has been for a hundred years: participate in Mass, pray for all missionaries, especially those who are serving in difficult and often dangerous circumstances, and be as generous as possible in the World Mission Sunday collection.
Sr. Lisa’s work is far from over, and a new chapter is underway.
She has recently been invited to join the Mission Office team in the Diocese of Allentown, as Coordinator of the Missionary Childhood Association. She was appointed to this same ministry back in 1989 in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, after returning from her first mission assignment, which took her to Peru.
She will soon be starting a month-long mission trip, her very first with her order’s sisters in Namibia and Angola, Africa. She is also looking forward to visiting her M.S.C. Sisters in India and the Philippines in January and February 2027.
“Mission is not something extra or something optional. It’s not even just something nice to do,” she said, reflecting on her mission work and the Centennial Anniversary. “No, for us, mission is essential. It is part of who we are.”
In marking this special World Mission Sunday anniversary, Sr. Lisa encourages the faithful to “remember that as He returned to His Father in Heaven, Jesus entrusted us with a mission, and He is counting on each of us — not only to go to Mass and to be generous in the World Mission Sunday collection — but rather, He is calling us to be living witnesses — no matter where we live or serve Him. Jesus wants each of us to be His faith-filled and faithful missionaries, proclaiming His Love to the ends of the earth.”
If you feel that God may be calling you to participate in your own first-hand Mission Immersion Experience, please contact Sr. Lisa at lvalentini@allentowndiocese.org.
Header photo by Sr. Lisa Valentini M.S.C.
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