Holy Cross Year of Mission: Hope Beyond Borders

The Congregation of Holy Cross is entering a new chapter in its missionary life. Superior General Br. Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C., has proclaimed a Year of Mission under the theme Hope Beyond Borders—a call for Holy Cross priests, brothers, and lay collaborators to renew the congregation’s founding impulse to bring hope wherever the Church asks.

Why 2025 matters

The Year of Mission aligns with the Church’s 2025 Jubilee theme, Pilgrims of Hope. In his circular letter dated February 11, 2025, Br. Bednarczyk set April 28 as the opening date—the 185th anniversary of Blessed Basile Moreau sending the first Holy Cross missionaries from France to Algiers in 1840.

The congregation’s Constitutions remind members that mission sends them “across borders of every sort” (2:17)—geographic, cultural, and personal. Hope Beyond Borders invites religious to move beyond comfort zones and encounter people and cultures they might otherwise never meet.

The Holy Family Mission in Bougainville

A concrete focus of the year is the Holy Family Mission in the Diocese of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. The congregation plans to send eight missionaries—four priests and four brothers—to a region where Holy Cross has not served before. The stated aim is to make God “known, loved, and served” in a part of the world new to the congregation’s presence.

For those exploring a Holy Cross vocation

For men discerning brotherhood in Holy Cross as Educators in the Faith, this initiative is a reminder that formation and ministry are never static. Vocation is lived in community, prayer, and service—and sometimes that service crosses borders the disciple did not expect. Discernment asks not only “Where am I comfortable?” but “Where is God calling me to bring hope?”