The "youngest" World Youth Day kicks off this year's campaignThe DOMUND is not a day to support concrete projects, it is "the day in which Christians become aware that the universal Church depends on us". This was affirmed by José María CalderónThe National Director of OMP in Spain at the beginning of the presentation of this year's DOMUND that we will celebrate next Sunday, October 24.
This universal vocation to the mission by virtue of the baptism received was the transversal line of the interventions of the two testimonies that, this year, accompanied Calderón in the presentation of the Day.
"The Holy Spirit acts before we arrive."
Msgr. José Luis MumbielaThe Bishop of Almaty began by thanking the Spaniards for their collaboration with the needs of the Church in Kazakhstan. This house," he said, referring to the headquarters of the Pontifical Mission Societies, "reflects the catholicity of the Church, because if the Catholic Church does not have a missionary dimension, it cannot be Catholic.
Mumbiela described the reality of the Church in this area of Central Asia: "we are a poor and small Church" but, despite its lack of means, it also collaborates in these days with the universal Church: "These days are also held in mission areas, this comes from Baptism, it is not a matter of the rich helping the poor. It is part of our Christian vocation".
What I have seen in Kazakhstan, said Mumbiela, "is that the same Holy Spirit that acts in countries where the Church is very developed acts there even before we arrive" and he showed with examples how God "moves before us because he wants to be there", like that Tatar woman who, during the pandemic, traveled 700 km by bus to Almaty in the hope of hearing Mass or people who ask to be baptized without having had previous contact with someone who speaks to them about God. With a very current simile, Mumbiela pointed out that the Church has to "arrive before the pandemic, not after. There are always viruses and we have to get there before. Because we have the solution, faith.
"In mission I have discovered a fresh way of being Church."
If anything marks this year's DOMUND campaign, it is the testimonies of young people who, in fact, give testimony of what they have "seen and heard" in different missionary experiences" As José María Calderón wanted to point out, this year "the protagonists are not the young people, they are the missionaries through the eyes of young people".
Mónica Marin was the young woman who, in this presentation, shared her experience in the mission, outside and inside her hometown, Madrid. "There is an urgency and the urgency is to be Church. Be aware of what you have been baptized for," she emphasized at the beginning of her words. This young woman stressed that "the moment you feel that Jesus is counting on you, you can tell what you have seen and heard. In the mission I have discovered a fresh and different way of being Church and transmitting that message".
After several mission experiences, Monica created the association JATARI (Quechua for "get up"), with which she aims to facilitate the missionary experience in Spain and abroad for young people. "It's no use going on missions if you don't do anything in your day-to-day life," she said. "The mission transforms me day by day and that's why I want people to have this opportunity.
2022 key year for PMOs
In addition to the presentation of the this year's eventIn addition, some data from last year's campaign have been released.
José María Calderón did not want to miss the opportunity to thank the Spanish people for their generosity since, despite the crisis and the pandemic, our country contributed 11,105,000 euros on the day of the DOMUND that went to 504 projects, most of which, as highlighted by the director of OMP Spain, "are translated into the ordinary fund that the Church makes available to the bishops for the maintenance of the diocese.
At present, there are some 7180 active Spanish missionaries. "The Church has to be committed to mission," said Calderón, "because the Church was born for mission.
Likewise, the director of the Pontifical Mission Societies pointed out that the coming year will be very significant for the Pontifical Mission Societies family. On May 22, Pauline Jariqot, founder of the Work of the Propagation of the Faith, will be beatified and the IV centenary of the creation of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the II centenary of the creation of the Propagation of the Faith by Jariqot will also be celebrated, as well as the 100th anniversary of the elevation to Pontifical Work of the Propagation of the Faith, Missionary Childhood and St. Peter the Apostle being instituted as pontifical missionary works and, in Spain, the 1st centenary of the magazine Iluminare.
