Projects in Need
Psychological Training for Priests in Ukraine
category
In the early months of the war in Ukraine, the immediate need was material aid for refugee families. Now, the need is, above all, for spiritual and psychological help. Priests are often the first ones the people turn to. Iryna is from Konotop, in northeast Ukraine. She had been baptized but didn’t have any faith. She recalls, “After panic attacks had literally robbed me of the last of my strength, I found comfort in the Church. Fear entered my life ...
A Vehicle for Prison Chaplains in Egypt
category
“Today, you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43). That was the promise of Jesust to the good thief hanging beside Him on the cross. Today, it is often the prison chaplains who witness similar miracles of conversion in the hearts of former criminals when they encounter Jesus. “Special hospitals for souls” is how one priest, who worked for many years as a prison chaplain, once described prisons. Many of the prisoners are broken, spiritually, psychologically, and morally, and ...
A Religious Center in Syria
category
Azza Al-Bittar, 42, lives together with her husband and her son in Homs, where the war began in 2011. She tells us, “My faith was born and grew in a wounded country. I lived through the civil war, with all its devastation and instability. Then the pandemic struck, raising a great question mark over our life and death. And in 2023, as though we had not already suffered enough, the earthquake shook the ground beneath our feet.” But then she ...
A Program for 120 Christian Girls in Pakistan
category
The Capuchin Fathers in Lahore, Pakistan are launching a program for 120 young Christian women and girls. This program aims to make them aware of their inherent God-given dignity as women, to deepen their faith and to teach them how to respond appropriately to provocative questions about Christianity. Since most of these women are poor and obliged to work in vulnerable positions, such as housemaids, cleaners, and factory workers, they are very much at the mercy of their employers and ...
Courses for Christian Girls in Pakistan
category
Again and again in the Gospel, there are women who approach Jesus with the boldness of a strong faith and ask for His help. Indeed, the woman with the issue of blood even believed that merely by touching His garment, she would be healed. And so, it was. Still today, women come to Jesus to seek His help and protection, not least in Pakistan, where Christian women are doubly discriminated against — both as women and as Christians. Christians are ...
A Pro-Life Project in Chile
category
In 1995, Pope Saint John Paul II issued the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae, in which he outlined the sanctity of human life and how society must foster a “culture of life” to counter the growing “culture of death.” The Pope’s words are as relevant today as when they were written in the 1990s. In many parts of the world, the culture of death threatens the sanctity of human life. This is true in Chile, where there are attempts to advance ...
Pastoral Summer Camps in Jordan
category
Through your love, you can give young Christians one of the most precious gifts a person can receive: deeper faith. The strengthening of young Christians’ faith is also the goal of the Youth Chaplaincy in Jordan, or JEC Jordan. Run by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, JEC Jordan focuses on developing young Catholics to become leaders and to educate them and deepen them in their faith. Christians are a small minority in Jordan but are accepted as part of wider ...
Transportation for a Hospital Chaplain in Ukraine
category
We read in the Gospels that man “does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). This reveals the profound truth that we are not just physical beings but also have deep spiritual needs. This is something long recognized by the Church and can be shown by the complete and comprehensive care of the patient as a whole person shown in the vital work of hospital chaplains. Since 2022, Fr. ...
Bibles for Evangelization Work in Venezuela
category
We frequently receive requests from Venezuela for Bibles for the work of evangelization in the parishes. For example, in the Diocese of El Tigre in northeastern Venezuela, we were able to provide 5,500 Bibles at a cost of $37,893, thanks to your generous support. This was in response to an initiative aimed at equipping the Catholic laity to consciously dedicate their lives to Christ and so themselves become missionaries to others. This was done by forming evangelization groups, led by ...
Mass Stipends for Priests in Papua New Guinea
category
It has barely been 80 years since the Catholic faith first arrived in the territory of what is now the Diocese of Wabag. In the past, the missionaries struggled against great adversity to bring the good news of Christ to the people. And their efforts have now borne fruit. Today, there are some 95,000 Catholics in the diocese, and the Church is growing dynamically, with more and more homegrown vocations. Bishop Justin Ain Soongie is himself a native of the ...