More than 20,000 missionaries from 24 countries evangelized the world during Holy Week

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 12, 2023 / 18:00 pm

Missionary Youth and Family went on “Megamissions” this Holy Week with more than 20,000 missionaries evangelizing various places around the world.

The director of Missionary Youth and Family in Mexico and Central America, Brenda Treviño, said that “as part of our 30th anniversary, we have concluded this 2023 Megamission with great joy in our hearts. There were more than 12,000 of us missionaries in Mexico and 20,000 in total throughout the world, of 24 nationalities who joined this work of evangelization.”

Missionary Youth and Family is an apostolate of Regnum Christi, an international Catholic movement that is made up of families, laypeople, consecrated persons, and priests of the Legionaries of Christ.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Treviño said that “this year’s motto was: ‘Thousands of stories, one mission,’” since these 30 years have been notable for “endless stories, communities visited, encounters with Christ, and of testimonies that are summarized in a single mission: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel’ (Mk 16:15).”

“We brought the word of Christ to more than 170 main towns with their respective 935 rural communities, covering 45 dioceses in 24 states of Mexico and different provinces in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Texas,” she said.

Other places reached by the “Megamissions” were Canada, the United States, and the Philippines.

“We thank God for all the fruits received through the missions, which thanks to him have done so much good for the Church and the world, with more than 21,000 locations served in 24 countries, 7.5 million homes visited, 43,500 medical consultations, legal advice, building houses, and working with inmates from various prisons,” Treviño explained.

After expressing her gratitude to the bishops and parish priests who opened their doors to the missionaries, the director of Mexico and Central America Missionary Youth and Family explained that in addition to evangelizing, there were also medical, prison, music, worship, and construction missions.

Treviño noted that “despite the very challenging situation that has been experienced in the world and in the Church in these last three years due to the pandemic, the mission to which Christ has called us is ongoing, and Youth and Missionary Family remains committed to it.”

Father Joaquín Sanz, a Legionaries of Christ priest, shared on Twitter a clip of a video of the closing Mass of the Megamissions at Anahuac University in Mexico with some obviously very excited young people.

“This year, we managed to exceed the number of registrations for the mission by 50% more than last year, and little by little we seek to once again reach the number of missionaries registered before the pandemic, always committed to each missionary getting in-depth training for this work,” he said.

Finally, the priest stressed that “the missions are open to all those interested in participating in various missions organized during the year or every year during Holy Week.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.