A Vehicle for Pastoral Work in the Philippines

For the past seven years, Sister Anita has been working with the indigenous peoples of the Diocese of San Jose in the Philippines, supporting them with wise counsel and ministering to their needs. She looks after the children in the primary schools, making sure they have enough to eat while helping them with their studies and teaching them the Catholic faith. She helps and advises the women and organizes all kinds of different activities for the young people. “It is a joy and a blessing for me,” she says, speaking of her work.

While Sister Anita always did her best to visit the people in the villages where they live, the distances in this mountainous region are considerable. The only transportation, just twice a week, is a so-called “Jeepney,” a public minibus, that travels through the various villages and back into the city. It is constantly overcrowded—people cram in, with their sacks of rice and cement and bulky cardboard boxes, and some passengers even have to sit on the roof. The journeys also seem to take forever—at every stop, there are things to be offloaded and then on-loaded onto the minibus, as some passengers get off and new ones get on. If you miss one Jeepney, you have to wait three days for the next one. This made Sister Anita‘s work extremely difficult, and so she turned to ACN for help.

Now, thanks to the generosity of our kind benefactors, we have been able to provide $29,100 for the purchase of a sturdy vehicle that can cope with the untarred roads and the rough and often muddy tracks. Sister Anita is overjoyed and writes, “Your help is a blessing and a great support for our apostolate among the native peoples.”

“Many thanks! We are so happy! Now we are all the more eager and determined to go out to the faithful and serve the Church.”

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.

Code: 329-05-29