2026 marks the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday. Each year, October is set aside in the Catholic Church as the Month of Mission, established in 1926 by Pope Pius XI to “foster understanding of the greatness of the missionary task, encourage zeal among the clergy and the people, make the missionary movement more widely known, and encourage offerings for the missions.”
A highlight of the month each year is World Mission Sunday, a day for the Catholic Church’s annual appeal for spiritual and financial support for the life-transforming work of overseas mission and missionaries. This year, Mission Sunday was celebrated on 18th October.
To mark the occasion, RTÉ television aired a live broadcast of a Mission Sunday Mass from the Cathedral of the Assumption in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. The mass included an address from Pope Leo in support of World Mission Sunday, and was celebrated by Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly and Fr Michael Kelly, Saint Patrick’s Missionary Society and National Director of MISSIO Ireland. Music was provided by the Cathedral choir.
The production of the live mass on RTÉ was conducted by Scratch Films, who are working with RTÉ for three years to produce a live on location mass each week as part of the station’s long-running Sunday Worship programme, aired every Sunday at 11am.
If you missed it live on air, you can watch a recording here on the RTÉ Player.
This year for Mission Sunday, Misean Cara was pleased to join MISSIO Ireland (The Pope’s official charity for overseas mission / www.missio.ie) and AMRI (The Association of Leaders of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland / www.amri.ie/) in celebrating the work of Ireland’s missionary organisations, by attending and participating in the mass.
Ireland’s missionary organisations work around the world to promote justice and equality for vulnerable communities.
