25 – 26 May 2024
Mission Together – the children’s branch of Missio, the Pope’s charity for overseas mission – is helping children to join with their global sisters and brothers to celebrate World Children’s Day in their school or parish.
The Catholic Church’s first World Children’s Day takes place over the weekend of 25 – 26 May 2024.
Pope Francis announced the inauguration of this special day on 8 December 2023 at the end of the Angelus. The concept came from a nine-year-old boy, Alessandro, who, just a few months earlier had written to Pope Francis with an idea to bring children together from different countries for a special event. Alessandro’s hope was that the children could get to know one another, play and pray together, and become friends.
Alessandro’s idea leans into the practice of accompaniment, which Pope Francis says is at the centre of being a missionary disciple. For the Holy Father, accompaniment means encountering others and listening to them so that we can form connections, build relationships, and reflect the love of Jesus to them.
World Children’s Day invites children from around the globe, including those from areas of conflict and children of different faiths, to join together as sisters and brothers. Although the event focus will take place in Rome, Pope Francis calls on Catholics around the globe to celebrate this special event in their own Diocese too.
World Children’s Day is an occasion to put children, who are the present and the future of humanity, back at the centre of the world’s attention… It offers children the possibility to become protagonists through moments of prayer, friendship, and formation.
Cardinal Mendonça, Director, World Children’s Day
As Catholic schools in England and Wales are significantly more diverse than the national school average, World Children’s Day provides a great opportunity to celebrate the many cultures within Catholic school communities and remind pupils, parents, and staff that we all belong to God’s global family.
To help schools celebrate World Children’s Day, Mission Together has produced several free resources. These include an introductory assembly, Celebration of the Word, Activities, Celebrating our Cultures ideas sheet, Virtual map Explorer Worksheets, and more.
All Mission Together resources aim to help children recognise themselves as members of God’s global family, working in solidarity for the benefit of all, with a special concern for those living in poverty. Supporting Mission Together through prayers and donations helps to provide feeding programmes, residential care, and educational, pastoral, and spiritual support to some of the world’s poorest children.
You can visit Mission Together’s site to download free World Children’s Day resources.
If you are interested in becoming a Mission Together volunteer, the organisation would love to hear from you. Please email Claire.
About Mission Together
Mission Together is the children’s branch of Missio England and Wales – the Pope’s official charity for overseas mission. For over 180 years, Mission Together (known internationally as Holy Childhood) has helped children around the world to grow in love of Christ and love of neighbour. In England and Wales, Mission Together’s aim is twofold: to support essential children’s projects in places of poverty and turmoil, and to support the mission of Catholic education through the creation of free catechetical classroom resources.
Together, Missio’s 120 worldwide offices ignite God’s love by supporting 1,070 dioceses in 157 countries through practical and spiritual help. It helps missionaries to work alongside communities globally that are poor or in need, regardless of their background or belief.
Sometimes this need might be very specific: a motorbike for a priest to celebrate Mass in remote villages; a simple community hall so people can gather together; vaccinations to protect vulnerable children. Whatever missionaries need to help them share the joy of the Gospel, Missio strives to provide it.
By supporting Missio and Mission Together, you can play a valuable part in creating a vibrant Catholic Church for the future.
By volunteering, raising or donating funds, and by praying with children, grandchildren or students, you make Missio’s mission possible.
Missio’s motto:
Together we are enriching today’s global Catholic community.
Together we are training tomorrow’s generation of Priests and Sisters.
Together we are giving hope to the world’s poorest children.
Together we are Missio.
