ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Catholics Visit Germany for World Mission Sunday 2018
A delegation from the Catholic Church of Ethiopia will be visiting Germany in September and October. The International Catholic Mission Society in Germany, Missio, has invited the delegation as part of the World Mission Sunday 2018 campaign, which opens on September 16 in Erfurt and ends on the actual World Mission Sunday, October 28. Cardinal Berhaneyesus, CM Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa, President of CBCE will lead the Ethiopian delegation at the opening ceremony in Erfurt.
The Pontifical Mission Societies organizes World Mission Sunday in over 100 countries and the Church collection of this day is sent for assistance to 1,000 poorest dioceses around the world. Before the World Mission Sunday campaign gets under way, Missio in Germany invites a local Church from a different country to show people in Germany how Catholics in Africa, Asia and Oceania live as Christians and what they can learn from one another and for this year it is Ethiopia’s Church to share her story.
The Ethiopian delegation is made up of about a dozen bishops, priests, religious and lay people. After they have attended the opening ceremony of the campaign as a group in Erfurt on September 16, the delegation members will go different ways. Together with Missio staff members, they will individually visit one or two of about 25 dioceses in Germany at different times where they will meet Christians and interested people from Germany and discuss issues of instance to parishes, schools, Catholic refugee centres, social and youth facilities.
According to a plan that Missio has shared, there shall be other events to foster an exchange of cultures. In recent months, Missio has developed extensive information for people in Germany, campaign material, posters or films themed on Ethiopia, which are now distributed in the German Catholic Church. One important subject is coffee-growing in Ethiopia. The “Coffee to Stay” campaign enables people in Germany to learn why sharing a coffee session is so significant for the community in Ethiopia, a lesson they can take with them.
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By Mission Aachen
