More than 740 students representing 79 Catholic schools gathered on Wednesday, 20 October for the annual Catholic Mission Schools Mass.
It wasn’t a record, but it was a significant gathering of Catholic student leaders expressing their solidarity and concern for the suffering children of the world, and drawing inspiration for their missionary leadership through the example and intercession of St Mary MacKillop, said Perth Catholic Mission Director Francis Leong.
“Bishop Donald Sproxton’s compelling challenge to those gathered, reinforced by by Sr Maree Riddler’s final words and the recessional hymn, Go, make a Difference, reminded us that our baptismal call to Mission is the liturgy after the liturgy, and that as our Holy Father recently put it; “… those who eat the Bread of Christ cannot remain indifferent before those who lack daily bread …”
“As evident in this year’s turn out for yet another vibrant Eucharistic celebration after eight years on the trot, the Mission Mass continues to be a tangible sign of the strength and vitality of our missionary identity as an Archdiocesan community as manifest and affirmed in the presence and participation of the youth from our schools, our parishes and the various agencies ministering to them,” he said.
“Catholic Mission organises the Mission Mass in the Archdiocese every year as a way of saying thank you for the support we receive to sustain and strengthen the unassuming and tireless work of our Catholic Missionaries in caring for and protecting poor and disadvantaged children in over 160 countries throughout the developing world,” Director Francis Leong told The Record.