In Vietnam’s Highlands, a Leper Colony Becomes the Face of World Mission Sunday 2025

By Ines San Martin, photo credit: Margaret Murray

As Catholics across the globe prepare to Mark World Mission Sunday on October 19, this year’s focus turns to the vibrant yet often hidden Catholic communities in Vietnam – particularly a leprosy colony in the Diocese of Kon Tun, nestled in the country’s remote Central Highlands.
At the heart of the Church’s missionary outreach, World Mission Sunday is the one day each year when the entire global Church unites in prayer and generosity to support over 1,124 mission territories, regions where the Church is still young, materially poor, or faces persecution. 
The collection is coordinated by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of four Pontifical Mission Societies. 
This year’s theme, “Missionaries of Hope Among the Peoples,” was chosen by Pope Francis before his death, and now takes on renewed significance under his successor, Pope Leo XIV. The new Holy Father—formerly a missionary bishop in Peru—is the first pope in modern history to have served most of his priestly life in mission territory.

In May, Pope Leo XIV described the Pontifical Mission Societies as “the primary means for awakening missionary responsibility among all the baptized and supporting ecclesial communities in areas where the Church is young.”
He added: “We see this in the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which provides aid for pastoral and catechetical programs, the building of new churches, healthcare, and educational needs in mission territories. The promotion of apostolic zeal among the People of God remains an essential aspect of the Church’s renewal… Our world, wounded by war, violence, and injustice, needs to hear the Gospel message of God’s love and to experience the reconciling power of Christ’s grace.”
This Gospel message is powerfully lived in the Diocese of Kon Tum, where earlier this year, Monsignor Roger J. Landry, National Director of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA, visited a leper colony supported by St. Joseph Mission Charity and the faithful in the United States through the World Mission Sunday collection.
“Then we had the great privilege to take Jesus to those lepers in this colony who are incapable of getting to Mass,” Msgr. Landry recalled. “The first leper we visited, with great hunger, looked up to the Lord through watery eyes and received the Lord on his tongue because he no longer had hands. His hands had been given back to God. And he received with great faith.”

He described another visit: “We brought Communion to a woman in her home. She was so excited to receive the Lord Jesus, she crawled down the hallway on all fours. Even though she had no hands left, she came onto a carpet that had been set, to welcome the Lord Jesus. And then received him with great love.”
“This is our Catholic faith,” he added. “This is what The Pontifical Mission Societies strive to do: to make it possible to bring Jesus, the Light of the World, to people no matter what they are suffering.”
In Vietnam, Catholics comprise about 7% of the country’s 100 million people—roughly 7 million faithful. The Church there traces its roots to the 16th century and has survived waves of persecution, with over 130,000 martyrs and continued government restrictions on Church activity. Yet the Church endures: Vietnam is home to 27 dioceses, more than 2,800 parishes, 8,000 priests, and 30,000 religious.
World Mission Sunday offers Catholics in the United States a chance to support communities like Kon Tum, and to stand with those who cannot stand on their own. It is more than a second collection—it is a global act of solidarity, one that reaches the corners of the world most in need of hope.
Let us respond together—this October—as missionaries of hope among the peoples.