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Bishop Capistran Heim, a native of Catskill and a Franciscan, heads a diocese in Brazil that is larger than New York State and New England combined. To help him, he has only 11 priests, one religious brother and 11 nuns. The two dozen of them have two things in common: They are missionaries, and they are committed to spreading God's word.

To do that, Bishop Heim sometimes travels around his Amazonian diocese by canoe. Ninety percent of his far-flung people don't have access to weekly Mass; to make sure they at least hear the liturgy, he celebrates a radio Mass each Sunday. The conditions he and his fellow missionaries live in are primitive. When Bishop Heim wants milk, for example, he takes a can to where it is sold from large containers, returns home and then boils the unpasteurized liquid. Stable electrical power is only now arriving.

When he contemplates his missionary work so far from home and the everyday comforts most of us take for granted, Bishop Heim says: "If I had to do it over again, I would do it."

That straight-forward dedication is typical of the thousands of missionaries who labor on the Church's behalf throughout the world. They sometimes risk their lives; they all sacrifice their comfort. Working in anonymity in remote jungles and teeming cities, they bring spiritual and material sustenance to people in need. They measure their success by a child fed here, a baby baptized there, a local catechist trained to lead after they have moved on and young people inspired to a vocation.

This list of committed individuals includes many from the Albany Diocese. One of them, a Schenectadian, talks about his experiences in Peru in this week's issue of The Evangelist (see page 9). Dozens of others are listed in our center section (pages 16-17).

The reason for our focus on them is the annual World Mission Sunday collection, which will be taken up in all parishes this weekend. It is a concrete way for Catholics to send a message of support to men and women who share our faith with people searching for God.

In a letter about the collection, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard said that "the needs of the missions are great indeed. The Holy Spirit is bringing forth many vocations in the mission world, and there is a great growth in the Christian community in many parts of our globe. I ask you to be generous in sharing your financial resources for the benefit of the missions."

Pope John Paul II has made a similar appeal (see page 8). Our gifts this weekend will make us part of what he calls "the reawakening of a sense of religion among peoples...and the affirmation among peoples of the Gospel values which Jesus made incarnate in His own life: peace, justice, brotherhood, concern for the needy."

When you make out your check for the Mission Sunday collection or reach into your wallet during Mass, picture the missionaries on pages 16-17 or Bishop Heim. You will be helping them, and through them, millions of God-seeking people around the world. You will never meet them or receive their thanks in person, but you will surely be enriched in your own spiritual life by helping to increase the Mystical Body of Christ to which we all belong.

(10-22-98)

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