Thousands of missionaries worldwide will be supporting the local parishes with their work of evangelization.

April 7, 2009. This year’s Holy Week missions are taking place in 13 countries: the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, El Salvador, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast.

In all of the countries where the missions will be taking place, the main emphasis is on supporting the local parishes by inviting people to the liturgies and to the sacrament of confession. 

The missions in the United States and Canada began with the commissioning Mass on Wednesday, April 8th in 6 cities (Atlanta, Calgary, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Phoenix, and San Jose).

In Mexico, the missions began on Saturday, April 4 with Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, was the main celebrant at the Mass, with 8,000 youth and family missionaries in attendance. After the Mass on Saturday, the missionaries left for the towns and villages where they will be working, and started out their week with the Palm Sunday processions. The total number of people on missions in Mexico during this Holy Week is 25,000.

In Italy, Father Álvaro Corcuera, LC, presided over the commissioning Mass on Saturday, April 4 at the basilica of San Giovanni Battista de’Fiorentini. During his homily, he reminded the missionaries of the essence of their mission:

“What is a mission?” he asked. “A mission is to proclaim Christ and bring the merciful love of God to mankind. This is what you and thousands of missionaries all around the world will do during this Holy Week.”

Stay tuned for more news about the missions during the coming days and have a look at the great photographs and videos at www.demisiones.org.