More than 10,000 children and teens have gathered in Senegal for an annual pilgrimage aimed at promoting missionary service to disadvantaged children.
In the capital of the western African nation, children from the Archdiocese of Dakar’s parishes and Catholic schools gathered at the Shrine of Notre Dame de la Délivrance de Popenguine for the pilgrimage held on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sunday Jan. 11.
According to Fides, the young participants gathered at the event organized by the Diocesan Office for the Universal Mission and Missionary Cooperation and delved into the initiatives promoted by the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood.
«This year in particular the pilgrimage celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the movement Cœurs Vaillants et Ames Vaillantes (CVAV) in Senegal, a Catholic movement born in France in the 1930s and arrived in Senegal in 1940 and is aimed at young people aged between 6 and 15,» a diocesan statement noted.
In 1993, Missionary Childhood or Holy Childhood celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Today, there are millions of «little missionaries,» the children dedicated to missionary works, throughout parishes, schools and movements on five continents.
Missionary Childhood provides children with missionary education and give this missionary assistance to the neediest children and missions around the world.
The main goals of the pontifical society include helping educators awaken in children a universal missionary conscience, as well as encouraging those children to be active missionaries who share their faith and what they have, especially with children from the neediest of regions.
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On the NET:
Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cevang/p_missionary_works/infantia/documents/rc_ic_infantia_pro_20011106_profile-part-1_en.html
