Mass Stipends for 50 Priests in Sierra Leone

The small nation of Sierra Leone in West Africa has seen a great deal of suffering in the past 35 years. A bloody civil war, lasting from 1991 to 2002, has left deep scars that are still evident today. Thousands were killed; children were forcibly recruited as child soldiers; untold numbers of women and girls were subject to rape and sexual violence; and over 2 million people forced to flee their homes. At the same time, vast swaths of the country’s infrastructure were laid to waste. To this day, the economy is still wrecked, and over 70 percent of the country‘s estimated 7 million residents still live in poverty – poverty that was still further compounded by the Ebola epidemic in 2014, and then the coronavirus.  

In every crisis situation, the Catholic Church is there and ready to support the people, providing medical care, food for the hungry, development aid, and support for families in all their many needs. And the Church is especially engaged in the field of education and the upbringing of the young. For years, the Catholic schools were, for all intents and purposes, the only education providers in Sierra Leone, despite the fact that about 78 percent of the population is Muslim. The Church is also highly regarded by the people for her charitable assistance, which she extends to everyone, regardless of religion or ethnicity. 

However, the fundamental missions of the Church are the preaching of the Gospel and the service of the sacraments. People need help not only with material needs, but above all, with those of the soul. The Gospel message helps them to find healing for the wounds they have suffered, to forgive those who have hurt them, and to find new hope for the future. This is crucial, for the individual and the country as a whole, which desperately needs healing in order to build a better future. And so it is also vital for her priests to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their mission. Yet they, too, face immense challenges. Many live in remote parishes, without electricity, running water, transportation, telephone, or Internet. And the Catholic faithful in the parishes are simply too poor to support their priests. So the Archbishop of Freetown, who also faces grave financial pressures, is relying on us to provide support for his priests, for he can provide them only with minimal financial help.

Each year, we give regular support in the form of your Mass stipends. This year, we were able to help 50 priests for whom the archbishop has requested support, and we will continue to support them in the future with your kind Mass offerings.  

147-08-90