Theme and Stories from the Field

"He said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19

Justina Njovu is 15 years old and like most girls of her age in Zambia, she’s hungry for education. She knows that unless she completes Grade 12 – the equivalent of Scottish youngsters getting good Higher results – she won’t get even the most basic of jobs.

This year, Justina will sit the exams that open the door to secondary education, and her teachers all believe she is going to do well.

But then, last year there were 40 youngsters at Tubalanje, her elementary school, who passed to go to secondary school and not one of them continued with their education. Not because they didn’t share Justina’s ambition to succeed – but because like Justina, their families just couldn’t afford to pay transport and hostel costs at the schools where the Zambian Government allocated them places.

Now, thanks to the intervention of Missio Scotland, a secondary school is being built within walking distance of four elementary schools, including Justina’s, and the promise of a future for all the area’s bright kids is taking shape.

Justina lives in a challenged district in Lusaka West – a rural fringe of the country’s capital city where pretty scenery can mask the fact that villages like Chikandano have grown up informally, built by migrants from the countryside seeking work in the city. There are, of course, no streets paved with gold. In Zambia, around two-thirds of the 14 million population is in ‘informal’ employment. Drive into Lusaka from this side of town and you’ll see women and children sitting on the side of the road breaking lumps of limestone into gravel that brings in £1 a load. You’ll also pass dozens of men and women patiently waiting for a foreman to emerge from factory gates to offer a couple of them a day’s work – the rest go home disappointed and their families go hungry.

Justina’s dad has passed away. Her mum tries to make ends meet with intermittent cleaning jobs that are never secure, never bring in a guaranteed income. Her granny is the one who holds the extended family together, looking after up to six of her grandchildren at any given time and struggling to provide one meal a day for them all.

The national electricity company, Zesco, favours the country’s industries and foreign customers, meaning there are power cuts at least three times a week, making it hard to study outside of school – but then, Justina’s granny doesn’t have electricity anyway.

It would not be surprising to learn that teenagers like Justina just give up on their education (and if girls do quit, prostitution may be an unwelcome ‘solution’), but amazingly, they have a faith that keeps them hoping and studying.

When Justina and her classmates heard that Missio Scotland was supporting the construction of a secondary school on their doorstep, their smiles were immeasurable.

These are girls who want to be doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Their male counterparts want to be pilots, and engineers. They all know that maths and science and English are the subjects they must succeed in. A visit to the school’s building site elicited the kind of excited reactions Scottish kids reserve for Disneyworld.

And the enthusiasm is not limited to the young people hoping to benefit from the new school.

The whole community is buzzing. People have been very aware of a Scottish presence in the are for a long time, but Missio Scotland’s intervention has turned the mustard seed of a dream into the reality of a tree capable of nurturing the educational needs of the area’s children.

Mission is intended even in the planting of a seed, and when a Comboni missionary in Zambia introduced a Scottish journalist to a new project caring for vulnerable wee boys affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic back at the beginning of the 21st century, the only certainties were a passion for Jesus and His people – and the idea that the tiny seed might grow a little to help those children overcome their situation.

The Scottish journalist went back to her parish of St Margaret’s in Argyll and the Isles and shared the plight of those children. They had been rescued from the streets of Lusaka. Their feet had been torn to shreds by jagged stones against young flesh. Their stomachs had shrunk to the size of a walnut – the meagre, maggot infested pickings from the rubbish dumps never enough to feed growing bodies. They were feral – having survived for months, sometimes years, running in packs for safety against adults who sought to exploit, abuse, or punish.

Who with a passion for Jesus could fail to be moved to feel a passion for these children? The seed sown in Zambia began to sprout in Scotland.

First, money for basics was sent to the project – bunk beds were built and dormitories created, instead of the bed mats on which they had lain when the boys first arrived in the Mthunzi refuge (the word ‘mthunzi’ means ‘shade’ or ‘shelter’ in a local language). Then school fees were paid. Children grew and succeeded at secondary schools around the country, displaced once more, this time to grim school hostels.

The seed was beginning to grow, but it became clear that it wasn’t going to be able to lodge all the birds of the sky in its branches. For one thing, the Mthunzi Children’s Programme was a boys’ only establishment – culture and economics had allowed just a male environment. Girls were able to come to the centre for a meal, extra tuition and shared leisure time on Saturdays, but only the boys were being supported in their secondary education.

The Mthunzi and Lilanda Initiative, known as M.A.L.I. – the name of the Scottish charity that grew from the first seed sown – did its best, but wanted to do so much more. It saw that it had to seek help to enable not only the boys rescued from the streets (and every year, more children are delivered to the centre by the Zambian Government social work department) but all the children in the challenged communities in Lusaka West.

However high the success rates were at the local elementary school, scores of children couldn’t take up places at secondary schools allocated by the Government because they were too distant and families couldn’t afford either the transport or the hostel costs. Girls in particular just didn’t stand a chance of making it to secondary school.

To show its intention to reach out to the wider community, M.A.L.I. changed its name and status, registering as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation called ZamScotEd – the ‘Ed’ being, of course, short for ‘Education’.

And through Missio Scotland and the network of the Church in Zambia, a new seed was sown and has grown very quickly: that secondary school being built at the Mthunzi Children’s Programme will be administered by Teresian Sisters and will open its doors to girls and boys alike. The birds of the sky will indeed be able to lodge in its branches.

When ZamScotEd brought its plan for a secondary school to Missio Scotland and explained the backdrop against which it hoped to build it, a partnership was brokered between the two Scottish organisations, the Archdiocese of Lusaka, and the Teresian Sisters.

The Zambian Teresian Order has an established record in the field of education. They administer and teach in elementary and secondary schools in Malawi, and they have already made huge improvements to children’s achievements in a secondary school in Zambia’s Eastern Province and an elementary school in Misisi compound in Lusaka.

Misisi is the country’s biggest slum. In this sprawling maze of breezeblock buildings, many half finished but still inhabited, the Sisters have their work cut out to engage with families to encourage them to bring their children to school. After all, child labour must seem much more valuable than child education when even the adults in the family can scarcely rustle up the price of a cabbage and a bag of mealie meal for a skimpy supper.

But engage they do, and St Lawrence’s elementary school is buzzing with creativity. It embraces the skills and talents of children of disability as well as feeding the intellects of the academically able.

Missio Scotland and ZamScotEd couldn’t fail to be excited, therefore, to enable the Sisters to take secondary education to Lusaka West. The school there is to be called St Columba’s because of the links with Argyll, where the Celtic saint established his monastery on the island of Iona in the 6th century, and it will play a role in the life of the Archdiocese of Lusaka, although it will be open to children of all faiths and none.

Zambia celebrated its 50th year of independence last year, but it is vulnerable to neo-colonialism because of the rollercoaster fortunes of its mineral industries and the fragility of its food security as climate chaos engenders more droughts and flash floods. The youngsters who celebrated last year say they need better education to combat all their country’s problems.

One girl who goes to the Mthunzi Children’s Programme twice a week for a quiet place to do her homework said:‘I want to be a businesswoman. I am good at business studies, Maths and English, but if can’t go to a secondary school, I won’t have the chance to reach my goals. Seeing St Columba’s being built makes me think it is possible. Tell the people of Scotland we need their help and we promise to work hard to make it.’

Helen, one of the Chikandano girls, faces typical obstacles. With one term to go in Grade 12, her mum couldn’t find the fees. Family problems were overwhelming her and she was struggling on her own.

Parish ResourcesThe enclosed resources have been created to help your parish conduct a successful Missio Scotland “Mission Sunday Appeal” as it invites parishioners to reach out and help the people of Zambia to build their Church. As we are celebrating as a Church this year, the Year of Consecrated Life, a Comboni Missionary, Fr. John Clark, offers this letter which could be read out in place of the homily.

‘Mission is a passion for Jesus and a passion for people’. These words sum up Pope Francis’ Message for Mission Sunday 2015. That is why I want to passionately share with you all, something which we missionaries hold very dear to our hearts. As passionate followers of Christ throughout the world, missionary men and women, young and old, priests, sisters, brothers and laypeople, throw themselves into situations of dire poverty, be it in harsh tropical forests or outlying places, always seeking to serve the lives of people especially the poor.

Countless missionaries consecrated to the Lord have been persecuted, abused, imprisoned, tortured and even murdered for the cause for which they left their homelands, their families and the culture of their origin to dedicate their lives to others. They witness to our Christian faith, showing that God’s kingdom of love, mercy, justice, solidarity and peace despite tremendous opposition continues to grow within humankind’s history.

Pope Francis is certainly not naïve in his approach to the world. As a Jesuit, he belongs to one of the biggest missionary orders in the Church and insists the Church is to be missionary, poor and focused on the margins; it must be involved by word and deed in people’s lives (EG 24). He wants a Church of and for the poor, to look at the poor in the eye and speak to the heart. It is they who in their difficulties know the suffering passion of Christ.

Missionaries can never afford to lose the impulse of walking down the roads of the world among the weak of the earth. S/he knows how the Kingdom of God very often shows itself under the banner of the least in humble places among those without dignity.

A committed missionary knows the joy of being a spring that spills over and refreshes others. Only the person who feels happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness can be a missionary EG 272. Wherever consecrated persons are, there must always be joy. When we say someone is joyful, we mean they bring a special light to life. So often the missionary experiences very beautiful expressions of joy in the lives of poor people who have so little to hold on to.

To be a missionary is not just for so-called ‘professionals’. Every baptised person is called to live their baptismal commitment to the full. Each and everyone of us should cooperate in the Church’s work of evangelization as both witnesses, living instruments and participants in that saving mission (Ad Gentes 41).

We Catholics of Scotland through Missio Scotland and the Pontifical Mission Societies throughout the world are asked to show our solidarity. This year we are actively supporting the Church in Zambia. This year we want to help the Sr. Veronica, who features on this years Mission Sunday poster and her Sisters to provide children on the outskirts of Lusake with the chance of secondary education. Education is the key to their future. The Sisters want to help their students, especially young girls to fulfill their dreams for the future by providing them with education and forming them in their faith Without your help, St. Columba’s school can’t be completed. Please help us in anyway to help Sr. Veronica and her Sisters to share with their students their “Passion for Christ”.

Yours in the name of the missionary Son of Mary and Joseph,John Clark, Comboni Missionary.

Appeal EnvelopePlease make the Appeal Envelope available the week prior to Mission Sunday i.e Sunday 11th October 2015

Please ask parishioners to pick up the appeal envelope as you encourage them to support this year’s “Mission Sunday Appeal”.

Please ask parishioners to complete the Gift Aid declaration if they are eligible to do so. Gift Aid provides signifi cant additional income.

During the Mission Sunday Appeal, parishioners are invited to reach out and help the people of Zambia and other communities throughout the world to build their Church. By being true Disciples of Christ, parishioners can help spread the word of God in Zambia and in the most remote areas all across the world, making it possible for more people to know the grace, joy, peace and hope of our loving God.

Thank you for your support of Missio Scotland and our crucial work in Zambia and throughout the world – for off ering your gifts and prayers others around the world can continue to transform the lives of girls like Justina.

PosterSr. Veronica, who will direct St. Columba’s Secondary school in Lusaka, Zambia, features on our poster this year.

She and her Sisters hope to give girls like Justina hope for the future; hope in Christ and the fulfillment of their dreams.

The Teresian Sisters who will look after the school aim to provide their students with a solid faith formation as well as promoting accademic excellence among their students.

WebsiteThe 2015 Missio Scotland Mission Sunday Appeal materials are available on our new website

www.missio.scot

The online resources make it easy for parish staff to promote the appeal and copy information directly to newsletters and other material. The website is also a good reference for parishioners seeking more information about Missio Scotland and our work in 1,100 dioceses throughout the world.

You will also find a short video about Justina and St. Columba’s school as well as a powerpoint which is ready for use on the website.

Speakers NotesGuidance for World Mission Sunday Appeal Speakers

The following guidance and speakers notes may help you prepare your talk/homily and explain the purpose and theme of this year’s Missio Scotland Appeal on World Mission Sunday.

Suggested script for introduction

“Today at (name the parish community) we are partnering with Missio Scotland through their annual appeal on World Mission Sunday. This appeal is instrumental in establishing and sustaining parish communities, their priests and missionaries, as well as supporting pastoral workers and catechists who share their faith and often lead their local faith community.” “Missio Scotland raises funds and forms people for mission. They are the official mission aid agency of the Catholic Church, continuing the mission of Jesus Christ in the world to share faith, by speaking the Word, caring for people in need, and acting for justice and creation. Today we are invited to help the people of Zambia to build their Church, giving hope of abright future to children in remote areas of Lusaka.”

[1] Highlight the poster and theme[2] Make connections to the readings of the day[3] Read one of the stories[4] Ask the parishioners to pick up the envelope in front of them on the pew[5] Ask for a generous one-off donation and encourage a regular donation[6] Ensure parishioners complete their name and address details[7] Conclude with thanks and linking the act of giving to this appeal with the

celebration of the Eucharist, a gift from God... to share his grace, joy, peace and hope in the most remote areas across the world.

Suggested script for conclusion:

“Here at (name the parish community), as we celebrate the Eucharist today, please consider what gift you will make to help the people of Zambia to build their Church and the Kingdom of God on earth in the most remote areas across the world.“Please place your gift in the Missio Scotland Appeal envelope provided for you at today’s mass. Thank you for whatever generous support you can give to this appeal. Please remember that by Gift Aiding your donation, Missio Scotland can claim back the tax paid if you are eligible to pay tax. Please include your name, email and address details so that Missio Scotland can claim Gift Aid on your donation.“I thank you for whatever generous support you can give to this appeal. By reaching out today you will help the people of Zambia, and elsewhere build their Church, so that more people like Justina and Sr. Veronica can live with a passion for Christ and a passion for his people.

Children’s Liturgy

What is World Mission Sunday?World Mission Sunday is celebrated in every parish in the world. It is a special day in the year when we remember our own call to be missionaries. Our prayers and our donations to Missio on World Mission Sunday help the Church in poor countries to reach out to the vulnerable and those living in poverty so that they too can know the love and joy that comes from Jesus. Let’s remember that Jesus wants us all to be missionaries so that his love can reach everyone.

On World Mission Sunday, Catholics around the world celebrate the fact that everyone belongs to God. Today we invite the children to reflect on what it means to belong to God. We pray for each other and we pray for those children around the world who do not have things like schools or hospitals and children who have little or no food and go hungry. We pray for those missionaries all over the world who are sharing God’s love with those children, bringing the good news of Jesus to them to try and help them out of their troubles. By being like Jesus these missionaries show what God’s love is like. And we are all Missionaries of God’s Love. By sharing and praying for children less fortunate than us we can show them what God is like. We are all Missionaries of God’s love and we belong to him!

ActivityPlease see the back page. The sheet can be photocopied and the coins cut out and glued together. On the side of the coin which says, ‘I AM A MISSIONARY OF GOD’S LOVE’, ask the children to draw a picture of themselves doing something loving to show how they can be an image and likeness of God.

Liturgical Resources

Prayers from the Mass of Evangelisation of Peoples

Introductory PrayerO God, whose will it is that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, look upon your abundant harvest and be pleased to send workers to gather it, that the Gospel may be preached to all creation and that your people, gathered by the word of life and sustained by the power of the Sacraments, may advance in the path of salvation and love.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Prayer over the GiftsLook, O Lord, upon the face of your Christ, who handed himself over as a ransom for all, so that through him, from the rising of the sun to its setting, your name may be exalted among nations and in every place a single offering may be presented to your majesty. Through Christ our Lord.

Prayer after CommunionNourished by these redeeming gifts, we pray, O Lord, that through this help to eternal salvation true faith may ever increase. Through Christ our Lord.

Final BlessingMay your grace and love be upon us, O Lordas we place all our hope in you.May your grace and love be upon us, O Lord,as we go out to be missionaries in our world.May your grace and love be upon us, O Lord,and may we be blessed in the presence ofone another.May your grace and love be upon us, O Lord,as we go out in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Spirit.Amen.

Prayers of the Faithful

Celebrant: Mission is a passion for Jesus and at the same time a passion for his people. Every baptised person is called to bear witness to the Lord Jesus by proclaiming the faith received as a gift. Since Christ’s entire existence had a missionary character, so too all those who follow him must possess this missionary quality.

On this World Mission Sunday we reach out to those in need across the world especially the people of Lusaka, Zambia and we prayLord gift us with passion for mission

For our Holy Father Pope Francis, Our Bishop……………. and all Priests and Consecrated people, may their response to the call of Jesus to take up the cross and follow him inspire us to imitate his service and love for othersLord gift us with passion for mission

All of us are called to proclaim the Gospel by the witness of our lives, some are called to go to the peripheries, to those to whom the Gospel has not been proclaimed. May they know and experience Christ in everyone they meetLord gift us with passion for mission

For all of us trying to live out our call to mission, May today’s Word and Eucharist nourish and sustain us to be missionary disciples in our own locality and to people around the worldLord gift us with passion for mission

We remember all those involved in the funding, building and development of St Columba’s School and for the pupils like Justina who will receive an education . We pray that our support will make a difference to their livesLord gift us with passion for mission

Celebrant: Lord as we celebrate World Mission Sunday, renew in us our Baptismal Calling to bear witness to Jesus by proclaiming our faith in word and action. Inspire us to serve and love others as you did. Fill us with passion for mission to be concerned for and supportive to

Holy Hour

Join a network of intercessors across Scotland to pray this October that all of us, as baptised Christians, may become missionary disciples wherever we are. Perhaps you could incorporate this reflection into a Holy Hour. The reflections proposed below are linked to the theme for World Mission Sunday this year: ’Passion for Jesus and Passion for People’. We invite you to come together for an hour of prayer and if possible adoration at any time in the month of October. Feel free to adapt it as you choose and include moments of silence for reflection.

Perhaps you may want to represent the whole Missionary Church with coloured candles representing the 5 continents, as indicated in the Missionary Rosary (both candles and rosaries are available from our office). You could bring each candle forward individually, place it before the altar and offer a moment of silent prayer or even an Our Father for the people of each

1. Opening hymn: ‘How Lovely on the Mountains' / 'Gather Us In'.

2. Introduction:‘Mission is a passion for Jesus and at the same time a passion for his people’ says Pope Francis in his message for World Mission Sunday this year. As we gather this evening, let us listen to the invitation from Pope Francis to enter into a closer relationship with Christ, ‘’ I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.’’’ (Evangelii Gaudium)

3. Opening prayer(from the Mass for the new Evangelisation)O God, who in the power of the Holy Spirit has sent your Word to announce good news to the poor, grant that, with eyes fi xed upon him, we may ever live in sincere charity, make heralds and witnesses of his Gospel in the world.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN

4. Reading- Parable of the Mustard Seed (Luke 13: 18-19)- Extract from Justina Njovu story (enclosed in this pack)

5. Hymn: 'Christ Be Our Light' / 'Come and Praise Him Royal Priesthood'.

6. Reflection:Evangelii Gaudium– Paragraph 121’‘: ‘All of us are called to offer others an explicit witness to the saving love of the Lord, who despite our imperfections offers us his closeness, his word and his strength, and gives meaning to our lives. In your heart you know that it is not the same to live without him; what you have come to realize, what has helped you to live and given you hope, is what you also need to communicate to others.'

Pope Francis reminds us that by virtue of our baptism, all of us as members of the People of God are called to be missionary disciples and that all the baptised, whatever their position in the church or their level of instruction in the faith are agents of evangelisation.

Let us take a moment to reflect on this challenge from Pope Francis:- Do we often reflect about this gift that we have received, this profound union with Jesus who gave his life for us? (Pause for a minute)

- Do I trust in the love of God who dwells in the depths of my being? (Pause for a minute)

- Does my Christian witness stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how I live? Why is he/she like this? What or who is it that inspires her/him? (Pause for a minute)

- How will I be a missionary disciple in the coming week? (Pause for a minute)

7. Prayers of intercession:Use ‘Prayers of the Faithful ' page from the Liturgical resources for Mission Sunday

8. Final blessingUse Final Blessing from Liturgical resources for Mission Sunday.

9. Concluding hymn:‘Make Me a Channel of Your Peace’ / 'I the Lord of Sea and Sky'.