Mission Here, There & Everywhere – Letter from Our Executive Director

Dear Members, Partners, and Friends, 

Last month, I was honored to gather with missionaries, pastoral ministers and academics from across the globe at the Church of the Sheaves conference in Rome. An initiative of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Church of the Sheaves seeks to form missionaries and the local churches who receive them in a renewed mission paradigm, in which, as Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu of the Dicastery for Evangelization told us at the opening of the conference, we “move beyond a model of mission which flows in one direction: every local church has gifts to give and gifts to receive.”  

It was truly humbling to represent our USCMA community in this synodal gathering. Many of our USCMA members have supported this effort through consultation sessions, resource and idea sharing, and financial contributions. Some members are even directly involved in the project and were represented at the conference, which included delegates from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and Latin and North America. As one participant from Europe observed to me, there was a profound commonality of vision across the geographically diverse participants, in particular the collective concern for the increased suffering in our world, the rising global mistreatment of migrants, and how we, the Church, are answering the call to proclaim, in an embodied, credible and communal way, the loving reign of God.  

We wrestled also with the paradoxical nature of mission today. It was clear from our discussions that the notion of “mission territory” as defined by a “lack vs. abundance” is not only outmoded, but runs counter to catholicity, with its embrace of universal human dignity, recognition of Christ’s presence in the poor and embrace of our common dependence on God, one another and creation. At the same time, the structures and realities of our Church and world make mission sending and receiving based on need a practical reality. And yet, as Pope Leo affirms in his Message for the 100th World Mission Day, our ad gentes missionaries—those who “have left their homeland, their families and all sense of security in order to proclaim the Gospel”—do much more than meet material or pastoral needs: they “demonstrate that God’s love transcends all barriers.” 

The Church of the Sheaves initiative seeks to reconcile these tensions into a prophetic vision of missionary communion. In the words of Archbishop Fortunatus, “The mission of the Church belongs to all of us.” We are each on mission wherever we are, and yet, by virtue of social, political and ecclesial realities and, most importantly, a Gospel faith which sends us ever outward, where we are and with whom we are called to mission is necessarily fluid. This is where the notion of gift exchange is so essential. It can move us beyond a colonial model of mission sending and receiving, which views cultural interchange through fixed lenses of imposition and assimilation, to a sacramental vision of oneness and newness, which transfixes and transforms a wounded and fractured world.  

In peace and gratitude, 

Kevin Foy
Executive Director 

Special thanks to our 2027 Conference Sponsor:

Other November Encounter Updates:

2027 Conference
USCMA Joins Global Mission Dialogue in Rome
USCCB Evangelization Summit
100 Years of World Mission Day
Blessed Fulton Sheen
Partner Opportunities
World Mission News