BRAINTREE -- Archbishop Richard G. Henning joined representatives of the archdiocese's diverse ethnic communities to celebrate the World Mission Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Quincy on Oct. 19. The Mass has been celebrated annually in October since 1926 to support the church's worldwide mission efforts.

"It is a remarkable gift to have so much richness of faith in our midst," Archbishop Henning said before Mass began.

The archbishop said that during Sunday Masses, Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston pray in 23 different languages, only a few of the hundreds of languages spoken by the global church. He said that the Oct. 19 Mass would feature prayers in multiple languages, meaning no single person in the assembly would understand everything.

"But, I hope, if that happens to you, you recognize the beauty of the moment and the truth that all of us share one faith, that all of us stand beneath the gaze of Our Lady, seeking her intercession, that all of us have been drawn by the grace of the Lord to live within his Sacred Heart," he said.

Music during the Mass was provided by choirs representing the archdiocese's Haitian, Vietnamese, and Tamil communities. There were Haitian dancers, a procession of flags representing the countries whose people have made their homes in the archdiocese, and an event that has become a World Mission Sunday tradition: Before the proclamation of the Gospel, the women of the archdiocese's Cameroonian community did their distinctive dance, processing through the sanctuary to the altar with the Book of the Gospels. The women, bedecked in colorful traditional clothing, sang and swished brooms to symbolically keep flies away from the holy book.

"Cameroon really knows how to do a Gospel procession," Archbishop Henning said afterward.

In his homily, Archbishop Henning said that this was the first World Mission Sunday the church was celebrating during the reign of Pope Leo XIV, who himself was a missionary for many years.

"He knows this ministry himself, but we can say that we see it even here in Quincy," the archbishop said.

He explained that 100 years ago, the Catholics of Quincy supported the missions that spread the Gospel throughout the world. In more recent decades, immigrants from the places visited by those missionaries came to Quincy. They have brought their faith to their new home and are strengthening the local church.

"It is that truth of how grace multiplies, overflows, brings abundance," Archbishop Henning said. "I'm so grateful that we're all here today. We're doing today the very first thing that the church does, which is to pray."

He told the assembly to never stop praying, because no matter what, God is walking alongside them and listening to them.

"First and foremost, we pray for all of the efforts and missions of the Propagation of the Faith here in the United States and around the world," he said. "And we pray, I hope, that God touches our hearts, that we may be those generous recipients of divine love and grace, who allow that divine love and grace to fill and then overflow our hearts and reach all those around us."

All those who attended Mass received a World Mission Rosary, which was instituted by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1951 to pray for the missionaries and those they serve. Each decade of the rosary is a different color: Green for Africa, blue for Oceania, white for Europe, red for the Americas, and yellow for Asia. During the Mass, the members of the assembly held up their rosaries as Archbishop Henning blessed them.

"When you pray your full World Mission Rosary, you've embraced the world in prayer," said Maureen Heil, director of programs and development for the Pontifical Mission Societies of Boston, who explained the meaning of the rosary. "So today, we ask you to start a new habit. When you pray the rosary, please pray for missionaries. It's still a dangerous place out there, in some places, to be spreading the Gospel of the Lord, and so let's pray for them on the World Mission Rosary."

After Mass, Archbishop Henning gave award certificates to the local winner and finalists of a student art contest held by the Missionary Childhood Association. Over 10,000 children enter the contest each year. The winning artworks are used in Christmas cards given by the MCA to benefactors. The winners are also invited to a December Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

"We're really happy to celebrate the children who are using ... the talent God gave them to help to promote the missionary work of the church," Heil said.

The finalists from Boston were Sarah Brown and Aidan Lewis from St. Bridget School in Abington; George Hoffman from St. Catherine of Siena School in Norwood; and Elise Wojtczak from St. Patrick School in Stoneham. The national winner was James Landry from Blessed Sacrament School in Walpole.

Heil said that every parish of every size around the world was honoring the work of the missions that day. She had received photos of World Mission Sunday celebrations in Zambia, Ethiopia, and Sri Lanka.

"They'll be really impressed by what's happened in Boston," she said, "but I have to tell you that when I look out at all your faces, I just have one thought for you: Please don't let this be a one-day thing that you help the missions."

She said the assembly could help at any time by praying, especially with the World Mission Rosary, and donating. She pointed out that French missionaries, supported by the churches of their home country, brought Catholicism to Boston.

"Now it's our turn," she said. "So pray. Pray for a generous spirit. Pray to learn to be a missionary, right where God put you. To the person at the next desk, to the person in your home, to the person in your neighborhood, and to the people around the world you may never have met."

She said that a donation of only $5 a month can fill a priest's gas tank, buy supplies for a sister teaching children to read, or supply altar wine for Masses.

"Think about how you received the faith and what missionary would have passed it to the people who gave it to you," she said. "And then honor them and help us help the missionaries who are out here today passing the faith for us."



Reporting by Antonio M. Enrique contributed to this story.