UGANDA: On World Mission Sunday, Children in Uganda Urged to Pray the Rosary to End Family Violence
World Mission Sunday World
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
As the Church marked the 94th World Mission Sunday on October 18, children in Uganda who are members of Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) have been asked to recite the Rosary for God’s intervention in order to end the surge in family violence.
“Mission Sunday falls in the month of October which is also the Month of the Rosary. This gives all children an opportunity to enjoy being Mother Mary’s Children, whom she loves and cares for,” the Sunday school teacher of Uganda Martyrs Minor Basilica, Namugongo, Ms. Dorothy Atuhaire Ssonko told AMECEA online in an interview Wednesday, October 14.
“Most importantly as children, they are able to actively participate in the life of Jesus through meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary. So, we encourage them to pray for peace in families and for the end of domestic violence which has exposed them to various forms of abuse,” Ms. Ssonko added.
During the Sunday Eucharistic celebration that was animated by 30 PMS children at St. Catherine of Siena Convent for the Dominican nuns Namungogo Parish, the children were further taught to understand their sense of belonging in the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” which is “a family where everyone finds their rightful space and are guided to grow in various careers, vocations as well as to serve God in whatever stage in life either as a child, a youth, an adult or a Religious.”
Prior to Mission Sunday, the PMS children had weekly talks in preparation for the occasion where they were introduced to the Mission Month’s theme ‘Here I am, send me.’ They further leant the four pathways of PMS which are the instruments to help the Holy Father carry out his mission. Finally the children learnt the Pope’s message on the importance of Peter’s Pence collection.
“We are called to pray and give financial support,” reads last Sunday’s children’s liturgy bulletin to elaborate more on the Mission Sunday’s collection.
“This support helps His Holiness Pope Francis to cater for the needs of the whole Church,” reads in part the bulletin as it adds, “For this year, whatever we shall give will help His Holiness Pope Francis to care for those who have been affected by Coronavirus around the world.”
The children were also encouraged to share videos of their town, poems, artworks, about Mission Month, mostly about the theme until the end of October and the information shared will help prepare for the celebration of World Children’s Day in November 2020.
Meanwhile prior to World Mission Sunday, the National Director of PMS Uganda Fr. Pontian Kaweesa, said in a video clip sent to AMECEA online that PMS are “the arms that the Pope uses to create awareness of the Church’s mission at different levels,” while Mission Sunday is “a special Sunday when the Pope re-awakens the Universal Church’s missionary spirit in each and every baptized Christian.”
He added, “Mission Sunday encourages each one of us to pray for this mission of the Church which cannot go on without our contribution in prayer and in material things, especially money.”
