Archdiocese of Goa and Daman celebrates COMMUNIO 2022 ON 18th December 2022

Archdiocese of Goa and Daman celebrates COMMUNIO 2022 ON 18th December 2022

COMMUNIO – A Call to Fraternal Sharing and an Opportunity for Fruitful Collaboration!

I – WHAT?
Communio is an initiative of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI). It was established and inaugurated during the 29^th Plenary Assembly held in Bhopal from Jan 31-Feb 8, 2017. Its primary aim is to help the poorer mission dioceses and the religious congregations in India and to assist them in their pastoral and evangelical works.

II – WHY?
In India, many Christians live in poor and even inhuman conditions: no drinking water, food, clothing, shelter, education, employment etc. As fellow Christians blessed with sufficient material means we have the responsibility to reach out to them and provide them with assistance, both spiritual and material. There are also local churches struggling to live their Christian faith in the midst of socio-economic backwardness: no proper place to worship or celebrate the Eucharist; there is need of financial assistance to build places of worship and other minimum facilities for Christian communities.

III – WHEN?
CCBI has proposed that it is to be celebrated on the First Sunday of Advent or a Sunday closest to the feast of St. Francis Xavier but each Diocesan Bishop is given the freedom to fix an appropriate Sunday for his Diocese. In our Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, from this year, it will be celebrated on 4^TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (with collection). This year it is 18^th December 2022. A week prior could be kept aside for Awareness, Prayer and Solidarity by way of contribution.

IV – WHERE?
Communio Sunday is to be observed in all Parishes, Religious and Educational Institutions.

V – OBJECTIVES?

To build a culture of sharing among our own people.
To pray for the missions and the missionaries.
To promote missionary vocations.
To inspire our lay faithful to work in mission areas as lay missionaries.

VI – CELEBRATION?
We can make use of five ways to Celebrate Communio Sunday:

1. Pray: Celebrate Holy Mass for the missionaries in India and pray for our missions and missionaries. Add special intentions to the Prayer of the Faithful. Encourage every family to pray, at least today, for our missionaries. A prayer will be made available on the Archdiocesan website.

2. Educate: Read the Communio Sunday CCBI Circular to the faithful or explain its contents on the previous Sunday. Make your congregation aware about the missionary activities of the Latin Church in India. Educate your faithful about what is happening in mission dioceses.

3. Solidarity: Express solidarity with our brothers and sisters where the Church is new, young and poor. Build a culture of sharing and take a special offering to support and assist our missionaries. Encourage everyone to contribute as all our contributions, big or small, would be of great help for the missionary work of the Church in India.

4. Encourage: Encourage missionary vocations and inspire our faithful to become missionary disciples. We believe that every baptized Christian is a missionary. Motivate our faithful to participate in the mission of the Church, wherever they live.

5. Celebrate: Celebrate Communio Sunday in parishes with various events, like meetings, missionary shows, exhibitions, competitions, etc. Invite some missionaries and listen to their witnesses. Honour families or parents who gave their members or children for the missionary work of the Church as priests, religious or and lay missionaries.

VII – RESOURCES?
Some material in form of a kit will be made available at the Parish. It consists of:

Covering letter
Folder with basics of Communio and Prayer in English and Konkani
A Poster
Some Envelopes

The other Resource Material is made available through our Archdiocesan website (https://archgoadaman.com). It includes:

A short PPT on the basics of Communio
A Prayer in English and Konkani
A Circular of CCBI in English (kindly note that in the Circular the date for Communio Sunday is First Sunday of Advent BUT in our Archdiocese, it will be on the Fourth Sunday of Advent)
A write-up in English and Konkani giving details of the Initiative of the CCBI

Some of the above resources can be downloaded for the purpose of printing on our Parish Bulletin and disseminating to Christ’s Faithful through other forms social media.

VIII – CONTRIBUTION?
The contribution can be done in the following manner:

Sunday Mass collection
A box could be kept in the Church
This year some envelopes will be made available to Christ’s faithful

The Contribution should be sent to the Treasury Department of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman by 30^th January 2023.