Lm460,000 for the missions

Last year, the Missions Office sent over Lm460,000 to missionaries in nine countries. This information can be found in an information brochure that the Missions Office is distributing in all houses in Malta and Gozo.

This very impressive sum is not the only amount that the Maltese send to the missions. Besides the Missions Office, the official Church office for the missions, there are other organisations that collect money for the missions. The Gesù fil-Proxxmu movement and the Mission Fund are two such organisations. All the religious orders that have missionaries in so many countries hold their own collections.

These initiatives have an advantage over the Missions Office because they are collecting money for projects run by Maltese priests and religious. Because of this, most of these projects seem to be nearer home.

If one were to count all these collections together the sum would surely be much more. We would not surprised if the sum nears three quarters of a million Maltese liri. An impressive sum indeed!

For a number of reasons, in the past few years the annual collection on Missions Sunday (this year it will take place next Sunday) seems to have lost some - if not most - of its energy and creativity, It became a repetitive event. The message and the media are being repeated over and over again.

This year, it seems that new blood has been injected into the campaign. One of the innovations is the use of dedicated phone numbers to enable people to send a donation.

As far as we can remember this method, which is used by so many, is being used for the very first time by the Missions Office.

One can phone 5004-9963 for a donation of Lm3; 5004-9965 for a donation of Lm5 and 5004-9960 for a donation of Lm10. One can also send an SMS to 5061-8917 for a donation of Lm3.

These lines have been open since October 1 and will remain open till November 30.