EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - World Mission Month opens in Meyrin opened: "Everyone can be part of the chain of communication of the Gospel"

Tuesday, 6 October 2020 missionary animation missionary october pontifical mission societies laity

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Friborg (Agenzia Fides) - World Mission Month was inaugurated in Switzerland on Sunday 4th October in the parish of The Visitation in Meyrin. Under the motto "Here I am, send me!" the Catholics of Switzerland are invited by the Pontifical Mission Societies, "Missio", to express their solidarity with the universal Church in prayer and with the collection of offerings in October.
Due to the sanitary measures, only about a hundred people were able to take part in the opening Mass for the month of World Mission, which was presided over by Father Pascal Desthieux, Episcopal Vicar of Lausanne, Geneva and Friborg. Father Côme Traoré, from Guinea and Deacon Martin Brunner-Artho, Director of Missio were also present. "World Mission Month is the time of the year in which we realize that we are a universal Church. We feel that our faith creates a community made up of all cultures and all nations", observes Martin Brunner-Artho. The international parish of The Visitation, home to people from 140 nations, makes this rich and diverse Church visible.
During the Missionary Month, Missio invites Catholics in Switzerland to enter into communion, in particular with the Catholics of Guinea. There are close ties between the Church in Switzerland and that in Guinea, thanks in particular to Fr. Eugène Maillat, who was Bishop of N'Zérékoré in Guinea and then Director of Missio Switzerland. Two priests from Guinea are currently working in Geneva. One of the two, Father Côme Traoré, gave the homily on 4 October. "Mgr. Felemou, Bishop of Kankan in Guinea, suggested a collaboration between Switzerland and Guinea because he had received a lot from Bishop Maillat. The first catechist trained by Bishop Maillat was Bishop Felemou's father! He now wants to do something for Switzerland", explained Episcopal Vicar Pascal Desthieux. At the end of 2019, a group from Geneva visited the diocese of Kankan, Guinea, to get to know the local Church. "World Mission Month is a time to celebrate the bond between our two dioceses", added the Episcopal Vicar.
In his sermon, Father Côme Traoré described the importance of the role of the laity in the life of the Church. "After all foreign missionaries were expelled from Guinea in 1967, the laity, especially the catechists, took on the task of passing on the faith. This experience shows that missionary work is not the work of specialists. On the contrary, every baptized person has the prophetic missionary anointing. It is for this reason that the contribution of the laity in the Church must be encouraged, everyone has a mission and the ability to be part of the chain of communication of the Gospel". (SL) (Agenzia Fides 6/10/2020)