October 14, 2025 // Diocese

Mighty Missionaries

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

“Does anyone know what the word mission means?” Alixandra Holden asked the students during her visit to St. Joseph Catholic School in Garrett.

Several eager hands shot up, and while the first through fifth graders gave it their best effort, defining the word mission – especially in a Catholic context – can be difficult even for most well-catechized members of the faith.

Holden, the director of the Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) in the United States – one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, an umbrella organization of worldwide Catholic missionary groups under the authority of the pope – put it in terms the students could easily understand.

“Does anyone here play video games?” Holden asked, and, again, students responded by darting their hands in the air. She encouraged the kids to imagine that their life is a video game, and when they are baptized, God gives them a mission to help share the Good News of the Gospel far and wide.

“By your baptism, you automatically became missionaries,” Holden said. “Missionaries are the gamers. Each and every day, we receive new quests and challenges, like being kind or showing forgiveness. Sacraments help strengthen us in our mission, and the goal is always growing closer to Jesus. MCA exists to help you as missionaries through prayer and sacrifice for others.”

Holden, who works out of the Pontifical Mission Societies offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, visited six Catholic schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend after Bishop Rhoades inquired about a program that would introduce the organization’s mission to local students. From October 7-10, Holden gave hourlong presentations at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Monroeville, St. Joseph Catholic School in Garrett, St. Aloysius Catholic School in Yoder, and three schools in Fort Wayne – St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, and Most Precious Blood.

During her visit to St. Joseph School in Garrett on Thursday, October 9, Holden explained to the students that “we are all missionaries. Whether you’re young or old, whether you can or can’t drive a car, we’re all responsible for sharing the Good News of Jesus. And I’m here to remind you of how important it is to be a missionary and help teach you some tools that will help you be a great missionary, which is all about two things: praying and sacrificing for our brothers and sisters all around the world.”

One of the best ways to do this, Holden said, is to pray the Rosary. At each of her six visits to schools in the Fort Wayne area, Holden had the students make their own World Mission Rosary, which was specially designed in 1951 by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who served as the national director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith – another of the four Pontifical Mission Societies.

“We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world,” the Archbishop Sheen once said. “To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary. Each of the five decades is of a different color to represent each of the five continents.” Bishop Sheen said that praying this Rosary would “aid the Holy Father and his Society for the Propagation of the Faith by supplying him with practical support, as well as prayers, for the poor mission territories of the world.”

Holden told the students that “Fulton Sheen had a famous radio show that a lot of people listened to, and he said, ‘I want to give the world a hug, and I want to do it by praying this Rosary.’”

Holden explained that the beads of each decade on the World Mission Rosary had a special color to represent a different area where the Church continues its mission of evangelization:

• Green for the forests and grasslands of Africa.

• Blue for the ocean surrounding the islands of the Pacific.

• White to symbolize Europe, the seat of the Holy Father, shepherd of the world.

• Red to call to mind the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas.

• Yellow for the morning light of the East, for Asia.

Before the students continued with each decade, Holden shared information about the mission work being done in the regions of the world that corresponded with the colors of the beads they were stringing. She spoke about the missionaries spreading the Gospel at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, in the city of El Factor in the Dominican Republic, among the war-torn people of Ukraine, and the poor working class in Tamil Nadu, India, and Papua New Guinea.

Before having the students begin with the green beads to represent Africa, Holden said, “I want you to think of the children in Africa who might not know Jesus the way you know Him and who might not have warm beds or the comforts that we have. Let’s pray a Hail Mary for all those in Africa.”

While they were making the rosaries, several students hopefully asked Holden if they would get to keep them after they were done. After each inquiry, Holden was noncommittal, telling the students that they’d discuss it when the rosaries were complete. Once everyone was finished, she told the children that they could do one of two things: They could keep the rosary they made and use it to pray for children around the world, or they could donate it to kids in mission territories. Both options were fine, she said, and it was completely up to them to decide. With one arm outstretched, Holden told the students that if they wanted to donate their rosary, they could line up and place it around her arm.

At the end of the project, nearly every student – even the ones who asked if they’d be able to keep it – donated it to kids around the world.

In all, the students at the six diocesan elementary schools made more than 600 World Mission Rosaries, and they committed to praying for children in mission territories throughout the world.

Holden said Kathleen Mulligan, principal at St. Joseph School in Garrett, was a great resource in helping her organize the Missionary Childhood Association’s visit to the diocese.

“It was a wonderful afternoon during Mission month to have the Missionary Childhood Association come to our school,” Mulligan told Today’s Catholic. “I hope our students understand that their faith calls them to global service and empathy. By making these rosaries, they are practicing faith in action, learning that their prayerful efforts are a tangible, personal contribution that supports the vital work of missionaries around the world. I pray that students will continue to be motivated by a profound spirit of mission.”

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Celebrating World Mission Sunday

In separate videos recorded in English, Spanish and Italian, Pope Leo XIV urged every Catholic parish around the globe to observe World Mission Sunday on October 19 and take up the annual collection that supports Catholic missionary work.

“When I served as a missionary priest and then bishop in Peru, I saw firsthand how the faith, the prayer, and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities,” said the Chicago-born pope.

In the video message, released on Monday, October 13, Pope Leo encouraged all Catholics to pray on World Mission Sunday “particularly for missionaries and the fruitfulness of their apostolic labors.”

“Your prayers, your support will help spread the Gospel, provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories,” the pope said.

According to officials with the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, funds collected on World Mission Sunday support “82,498 seminarians in formation, 258,540 religious sisters providing care and catechesis, (and) 844,000 catechists sharing the faith at the grassroots.” The funds also help sustain “12,000 health care centers, 8,750 orphanages and homes for the elderly,” and have helped to build 570 new churches.

In the video, Pope Leo asked Catholics to “reflect together on our baptismal call to be ‘missionaries of hope among the peoples,’” and to commit themselves again “to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our hope to the ends of the earth.”

You can view the pope’s video message here.

– Catholic News Service

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.