Since 2007 the Society of Missionary Children has celebrated the
National Day of Prayer for Children on the 2nd Friday of every October.
The 2016 National Day of Prayer will be celebrated on Friday 14 October in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo.
This is the first time that the event will be held outside Dublin and the organisers are looking forward to welcoming as many as possible from around the country to come and pray for all children everywhere. The prayer service will begin at 12 noon.
There is a resource book available for those who can’t travel to Sligo for the prayer event. The free resource book provides a “Helping Hands” prayer service, a “Children Helping Children” Mass and the “Mission Rosary,” all of which can be held in your local parish church, parish centre, school or individual classrooms.
‘Children Helping Children’ is the motto of The Society of Missionary Children worldwide. The society was founded in 1843 in Nancy, France and has been active in Ireland since 1853.
Since then it has spread throughout the world and there are children participating in over 100 countries around the globe.
This makes the society the oldest and largest children’s charity in the world. Missionary Children encourages children around the world to pray together for each other and for children living in poverty and fear. It also encourages children to share whatever they can, no matter how little, to help with the material needs of their brothers and sisters in need.
Each year, the society helps more than five million children in thousands of projects scattered throughout the developing world. It is the official children’s charity of the Catholic Church worldwide.
In Ireland, it comes under the auspices of The Irish Episcopal Conference. Missionary Children brings aid to children of all faiths and no faith and children’s religions are respected in the projects.
Projects are run by Missionaries and dedicated Christians who know the value of every cent they receive and make every cent count.
The resource book for the 2016 National Day of Prayer for Children is available to download here.
You can share what is happening in your school and parish on Twitter by tweeting Missionary Children @MissioChildren.