Our Holy Father, Pope Francis has declared October 2019 as an Extraordinary Missionary Month (EMM OCT 2019) to commemorate the 100th anniversary Pope Benedict XV’s Apostolic Letter: “Maximum Illud”. The aim of this celebration is to draw our attention to a renewed awareness of our identity as the People of God by virtue of our baptism so as to reawaken our commitment to our mission as the Church; thus giving a fresh impulse to our responsibility of proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the world with new enthusiasm.

The Holy Father has therefore directed that Dioceses and Archdioceses celebrate this Extraordinary Missionary Month by organizing activities and programmes throughout the month of October, 2019. For Archdiocese a number of activities have been lined up to celebrate this special month. These activities would be facilitated and coordinated by the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of the Archdiocese and the Religious Education Department and would be implemented at the Parish, Deanery and Regional levels. We STRONGLY URGE all Parish Priests and Priests-in-Charge to implement these activities in their various parishes and deaneries.
The activities are as follows:

Date
Oct. 1
Tuesday

Activities
Rosary Procession/Opening Mass
(Priests should mobilize their parishioners to participate actively in the above program.)

Venue
Lekki Region: from SS Philips & James to Ave Maria Grotto.
Mainland Region: from the National Stadium to Marian Shrine at Maryland.
Badagry Region: from Holy Family, Ajara to Sacred Heart Parish. Followed by a pilgrimage to Topo Island

Date
Oct. 5
Saturday

Activities
Missionary Childhood Association Eucharistic Adoration

Venue
Deanery Level

Date
Oct. 12
Saturday

Activities
Rosary Procession at the Marian Shrine Maryland, Lagos, followed by a Power Point Presentation in the hall at the OLA Sisters’ premises.

Venue
Marian Shrine, Maryland

Date
Oct. 7-13
Monday – Sunday

Activities
CATECHETICAL WEEK CELEBRATION

Venue
Parish Level
Booklet are available at Religious Education Dept. at N150 only.

Date
Oct. 13
Sunday

Activities
EVANGELIZATION DRIVE: This is in keeping with the spirit of the Missionary Month. The Faith Formation/Education Committee in the Parishes and the Evangelisation committee should provide tracts to be distributed during the drive. The content of the tracts should include: the mission of Jesus as given to the Church, Scriptural references for meditation. We expect that Associations such as Charismatics would be in the fore-front of this activity.

Venue
Parish Level

Date
Oct. 19
Saturday

Activities
VISITATION TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED: Parishes to organize visits to the less privileged... (Children and youth especially should be encouraged to visit and assist the aged, the sick in the parish and environs. We expect that the Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul and similar Associations would take the lead)

Venue
Parish Level

Date
Oct. 20
Sunday

Activities
MISSION SUNDAY: In line with the Pope’s message for the Extraordinary Missionary Month 2019, there will be ‘Exchange of Pulpit’ among Priests in the Archdiocese. (Deans to coordinate). Homilies should be based on the Pope’s message.

Venue
Official closing Mass at Church of Ascension, Airport Road and in all Parishes.

Everyone is expected to take active part in this unique celebration. We ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the Help of Christians and Star of Evangelisation so that the activities of this Missionary Month would spark up a renewed missionary zeal in each one of us and give a new impetus to missionary activities in our Archdiocese.
(Signed)
+Alfred Adewale Martins
Archbishop of Lagos