In his message for World Mission Sunday, Oct. 22, Pope Francis extols the importance of mission as “at the heart of Christian faith” and includes a specific mention of youth in mission. “Young people are the hope of mission,” the pontiff says. “They seek ways to put themselves with courage and enthusiasm at the service of humanity.”
Courage and enthusiasm very much sum up what the two young men featured in this issue of Maryknoll bring to mission as our newest priests. We congratulate Fathers Daniel Kim and Peter Latouf as they follow in the footsteps of more than a century of missionary priesthood. The priesthood is one of various mission vocations, religious and lay alike, highlighted in this issue, from candidate Ryan Thibert’s reflection on his call to brotherhood to the 25th anniversary of the Maryknoll Affiliates to a lay mission couple’s preparation for a “mission-driven life” as they return home from Africa.
That’s one of the functions of this magazine, to tout the virtues of Catholic mission, particularly Maryknoll’s, and we do that every issue. We rarely toot our own horn, however, as journalists dedicated to mission evangelization. So please excuse me as I note in passing that Maryknoll and its Spanish-language sister publication, Misioneros, won an unprecedented 40 awards, including Best Websites, from the Catholic Press Association this past June. We welcome you to review the list of awards at https://goo.gl/wHKyKs.