World Mission Sunday, organized by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. World Mission Sunday will be celebrated within our diocese on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026.
The offerings that will be collected are destined for a common fund of solidarity distributed, in the pope’s name, by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith among the poor and suffering in more than 1,150 mission dioceses across the world. This is the 100th celebration of World Mission Sunday and fittingly occurs during the year when Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a 16-year National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, was beatified. Plea

In the scriptures, being anointed usually meant you were a prophet or king of Israel. Anointing was a sign that God had chosen you for that job. But it was almost unheard of to call a king from another country anointed. So why is Cyrus given that title? Cyrus was king of Persia when the Babylonians held the people of Israel captive. God used him to defeat the Babylonians and eventually bring the Israelites back to their homes.
In our first reading this weekend, we hear the Lord’s words to Cyrus about God’s plan for Israel. Notice that God is in charge: telling Cyrus what God will do, making other kings run from him, opening doors or gates that might have blocked Cyrus’ armies—all for a king who doesn’t even know God. Cyrus only knew the Persian gods. That is why the reading says several times that there is no God but the Lord.
One thing this tells us is that God can work through anyone, not just saints and religious. Any time someone does a good deed, God is behind it. Just as God used Cyrus to free the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, God can use governments to protect the poor, to help rebuild after disasters, to defend freedom.
In that sense, we can understand what Jesus says about payment to Caesar and to God. Since everything belongs to God, that should be our first allegiance. When a government does not protect the weakest or the rights of the poor, it should be accountable. But when God works through governments, we can give some support to them by such activities as voting, or paying taxes. Let us ask God to work through us also, helping us to proclaim that God alone is Lord.
-Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications

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TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
Sadly, one of the most difficult reforms of the Second Vatican Council for the Church to embrace has been one of the most thorough and beautiful: the sacrament of penance. Because it is individual and private, it has been difficult for the changes to take root. Sometimes a priest may be grounded in the earlier form, and at other times the penitent may resist the priest’s attempt to blend in the proper texts and rituals.
Perhaps because the new form is almost identical in structure to the old, it has been difficult to institute. It may also be true that with the liturgy in English now, it is far clearer that the Eucharist, too, is a “sacrament of reconciliation.”
It is certainly true that there are different skills and gifts in ministry, and experienced penitents know that not all priests are equally at ease in this sacramental encounter. Sometimes a difficult experience can drive people away from a liturgy that is spiritually rich and rewarding. Yet we know that one bad meal seldom puts people off restaurants forever: the dinner gong tends to dispel bad memories, and so we try again. Individual confession and absolution is both treasure and tradition for us. If you haven’t been for a while, consider coming back to praise God for this gift of mercy.
—Rev. James Field, Diocesan Publications

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Their mission was to New France, but these missionaries found in present day New York State and the Province of Ontario a world wildly different from the homes they left behind. Six Jesuit priests, Fathers Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf, Anthony Daniel, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, and Noel Chabanel—and Jesuit lay volunteers Rene Goupil and John Lalande—shared the gospel with the Native Americans they met, in languages they painstakingly learned, and through images they creatively adapted to the indigenous cultures (for example, John de Brebeuf’s “ ’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime: the Huron Carol”). But their evangelization was caught up in turmoil beyond their control: a smallpox epidemic, battles between French and English trading interests—the traders united only by their willingness to exploit the Native Americans—and conflict among the tribes themselves, Huron, Mohawk, Iroquois. The missionaries’ perseverance despite exhausting hardships, their steadfast courage in facing unspeakable tortures, and undaunted love even for those who martyred them, bore fruit, immediately in Kateri Tekakwitha’s sanctity, eventually in the Catholicism that still flourishes in the United States and Canada. —Peter Scagnelli, Diocesan Publications

Artificial intelligence is changing our world at a staggering pace. But what does this technological revolution mean for our faith, our work, and our future? In his very first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), Pope Leo XIV has stepped boldly into this exact conversation. He isn’t simply addressing algorithms and coding; he is asking profound questions about what it means to be human. How do we protect truth, freedom, and human dignity in a digital age? What is the Catholic response to the shifting dynamics of power? And how do we ensure that efficiency never replaces the human soul?

Join us at St. Paul’s beginning Monday evening, October 19th at 6:30 in the Family Life Center, when with the help of Fr. Ernest, Fr. Maurice, and Deacon Mike we will be unpacking the Church’s vision in the AI revolution. Books have been generously donated by the Knights of Columbus and will be distributed at our first meeting along with a reading plan and schedule for the next five Monday evenings. For questions or to reserve a book, please contact MJ at 904-222-0608 or mjstpaulre@gmail.com.