The Congregation of Holy Cross invites all friends, collaborators, and ministries to join in celebrating a landmark spiritual initiative: the Year of Mission, officially beginning on April 28, 2025. This global observance for the Congregation, themed “Hope Beyond Borders,” will mark a renewed commitment to missionary zeal across cultures, communities, and continents.

The chosen launch date is no coincidence—it honors the 185th anniversary of Blessed Basile Moreau’s first missionary dispatch outside France to Algiers in 1840. This powerful historical echo reminds us of Holy Cross’s founding charism and propels us forward into a new era of pastoral outreach as “educators in the faith” who make a “preferential option for the poor.” 

Declared by Superior General Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., whose video message is below, the Year of Mission is an invitation to stretch beyond the familiar. In alignment with the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Pilgrims of Hope, this effort encourages all members of the Holy Cross family to respond courageously to the signs of the times in their communities. To inspire this effort, two Holy Cross Servants of God have been named co-patrons of the Year of Mission: Br. Flavian LaPlante, C.S.C., and Bishop Vincent McCauley, C.S.C. Additionally, the Congregation has laid out four goals of the Year of Mission:

1. To reflect upon the mission entrusted to us by our Founder, Blessed Basile Moreau, in light of the pressing needs of our Church and world;
   
2. To renew our missionary zeal and to find new ways of being faithful to our mission as men and women of hope and “educators in the faith” who make a “preferential option for the poor;”
   
3. To nurture within us a greater freedom and commitment to go wherever the mission calls us; and
   
4. To inspire our partners in ministry to embrace more deeply their own call to the Holy Cross mission.

As part of this bold endeavor, the Congregation has already taken a significant step by establishing a new mission in the Diocese of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Known as the Holy Family Mission, this marks the first new foreign mission undertaken by Holy Cross in nearly four decades. A dedicated team of eight missionaries—four brothers and four priests—now serve two parishes, Christ the King in Hantova and Sacred Heart in Tinputz, reaching over 10,000 parishioners and supporting local schools.

Br. Paul has also offered three reflection questions to help guide individual and community discernment throughout the year:

1. What are the pressing and unmet needs of the neighborhood or society in which you live? Who are those who remain on the ‘peripheries’ and who might benefit from the mission and hope your ministry brings?  
2. What are the borders that you must cross in order to reach them?
3. What action(s) will your jurisdiction/ministry/apostolate undertake in order to meet the pressing needs you have identified? How do you foresee these actions as bringing hope to those who need it the most?

We hope you’ll take this journey with us—reflecting, responding, and rejoicing in the gift of mission. Whether through prayer, outreach, or solidarity, there’s a place for every person and every community in this shared work of hope.

Let us cross new borders together.

Resources for Your Community:

• Prayer & Prayer Card: Contact the Holy Cross Mission Center to have these cards shipped to your Holy Cross community or apostolate in the U.S.
• Worship Booklets for Holy Cross communities, schools, and institutions
• Hymn: Let Us Be People of Hope: The hymn, its various language settings, and its instrumental settings are free to use in any parish, school, or ministry sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The copyright information, however, should be included in all worship aides. For all other inquiries regarding the hymn’s use, please email the composer, Mr. Steven C. Warner, at: warner.1@nd.edu
• Logos (English & Spanish): A special logo was commissioned to capture the Year of Mission’s theme of Hope Beyond Borders. Beyond the year of mission itself, the logo represents the Congregation of Holy Cross’s ongoing vocation and mission to cross borders of every sort as people with hope to bring. All Holy Cross communities and ministries affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross are invited to use this logo in their marketing and communications material.
• Banners & Flag: Your community is invited to order these items for public displays, events, and initiatives related to the Year of Mission.
• Circular Letter 6 (28 April 2024), Holy Cross Mission: Continuing to Cross New Borders, by the Superior General: In this circular letter, Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., called for the Year of Mission to be celebrated from 28 April 2025 to 28 April 2026. He reflects on the fundamental missionary impluses of “being sent” and “being with” before exploring the mission context of today.
• Open Letter Declaring the Year of Mission (11 February 2025) by the Superior General: In this open letter to Holy Cross religious, colleagues, and friends, Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., formally and publicly declared the Year of Mission, outlining the goals and presenting questions for reflection.
• Selected Quotes on Mission from Blessed Basil Moreau: This collection gathers selected quotes from the writings of Blessed Basile Moreau on themes related to mission.
• Webinars: During the Year of Mission, the Congregation’s Commission for Mission and Commission for Consecrated Life and Heritage are teaming up to offer a webinar series exploring the Congregation’s mission and charism as well as the year’s theme of Hope Beyond Borders. New topics, presenters, and webinar links will be added to that webpage as they become available.

Posted: April 7, 2025

Revised: April 16, 2025