Next weekend (2nd/3rd March) Fr. Archie Casey SX will be making a Mission Appeal in our parish, and he will also be covering the weekend Masses while Fr John is away. He has worked in Bangladesh and the Philippines.” St. Guido Maria Conforti, who was Archbishop of Ravenna first and, subsequently Bishop of Parma, Founder of the Xaverian Missionaries (1895) wanted his first missionaries to continue the work of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of the Missionary Family, in China at whose doors Xavier had died. Therefore, China was chosen as the first mission of the Xaverians, but all the missionaries were expelled from the country in 1954. The Xaverians then accepted the invitation of the Popes to announce the Gospel in many other nations. Today the Xaverians (who are roughly 707 in number) work in 22 countries.