Bishop Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, will lead this year’s annual National Day of Prayer for Children on Friday 14 October next in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo. The event is organised by the Society of Missionary Children, the official children’s charity of the Catholic Church worldwide.
Now in its ninth year, the National Day of Prayer for Children celebrates and encourages a missionary spirit in children. It works to develop in them a spirit of praying, sharing and caring for other children throughout the world, particularly those suffering through poverty and war. Thousands of schoolchildren across Ireland are expected to participate in this year’s day of prayer.
The Society of Missionary Children was founded in 1843 in France and has been active in Ireland since 1853. Each year, the Society helps more than five million children in thousands of projects scattered throughout the developing world. Last year, Irish children raised over €42,000 which went towards projects in Lesotho, Sierra Leone and the Philippines.
A free resource book is available for those who cannot travel to Sligo for the prayer event. The resource book provides a Helping Hands prayer service, a “Children Helping Children Mass and the Mission Rosary, all of which can be held in local parish churches, parish centres, schools or individual classrooms.
The resource book for the 2016 National Day of Prayer for Children can be found here. To share what is happening in your school and parish on Twitter, tweet to Missionary Children @MissioChildren and using the hashtag #MissionSunday.
ENDS
