Projects in Need
Fund an All-Terrain Vehicle for a Parish in Indonesia
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With over 272 million inhabitants, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. An island nation, Indonesia is made up of over 17,000 separate islands, some 6,000 of which are inhabited, and this distribution affects the religious makeup of local areas. The island of Flores, for example, is mostly Catholic, while a majority of the close-to 50,000 inhabitants of the island of Sumba are Protestant Christians. The reason for this goes dates to 1913, under the Dutch colonial ...
Help Fund a New Parish House for a Poor Parish in Sierra Leone
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Sierra Leone has suffered a painful history in recent times. Between 1991 and 2002, half the population were uprooted and forced to flee as the result of a bloody civil war which left thousands of people murdered. To this day the consequences of that conflict are still evident. Poverty, unemployment and corruption mark daily life in this West African nation, which is now among the poorest in the world. The situation was further exacerbated by natural disasters–notably the Ebola epidemic ...
Help for Refugees Living in a Church in Ukraine
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The war in Ukraine has prompted the greatest wave of refugees since the Second World War. Almost 15 million people have been forced to flee, 7 million of them within their own country. Many have found shelter in Church-run facilities. Currently 98 women and children are housed in the Catholic Pidlyute youth center in Ivano-Frankivsk, in West Ukraine, and Archbishop Volodymyr Vijtyshyn has written to ask our help in caring for them. “The worst thing,” he writes, “is that the ...
A Vehicle for a Parish in Syria Hit by the Earthquake
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In February of 2023, a powerful earthquake struck the region of southern Turkey and northern Syria. At least 50,000 people died, and a huge number of buildings were destroyed. Among the areas most hard-hit was the city of Aleppo in Syria, already devastated by the civil war in the country. Father Hugo Fabian Alaniz, the priest of Our Lady of the Annunciation parish, was clearly protected by his guardian angel, since he himself was unhurt, but his car, which was ...
Help Renovate a Convent in India
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The Handmaids of Mary are a women‘s congregation indigenous to India that was founded in 1944 to care for those on the margins of society. They have always given special care to women and children of the disadvantaged ethnic minorities and the dalits (the former “untouchables”) on the bottom rung of society. Today the Sisters are active in 18 different Indian dioceses. In the Diocese of Roukela, they have a house in Telendih. The people here are mainly from ethnic ...
Support Religious and Lay Missionaries in a Struggling Diocese in Argentina
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Añatuya is one of the poorest diocese in Argentina. Most of its population of barely 200,000 live widely scattered across an area (26,500 square miles) close to the size of West Virginia. The roads are poor, the people have little access to formal education or medical care, and unemployment and broken families are a widespread problem. Currently there are 81 religious Sisters, two brothers and seven lay missionaries working in the diocese, trying to make a difference. Some of them ...
A Vehicle for a Remote and Extensive Parish in India
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The Parish of Saint Francis Xavier in Lazu is a remote parish in the Diocese of Miao in the far northeast of India, close to the frontier with Burma (Myanmar). It has 10 outstations and close to 2,500 Catholic faithful, most of whom are very poor and from downtrodden ethnic minorities. Most are forced to work as day laborers for large local landowners, and they struggle to survive on pitiful wages. Any small family crisis, such as a family member ...
Help Catechists in Pakistan
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“Pakistan‘s Vatican.” This is how Khushpur, in the Faisalabad district of the Punjab, is sometimes humorously referred to, as it is the largest Catholic ‘village’ in all Pakistan. This village, which has close to 8,000 Catholics and a very active Church life, is a pillar of strength for Catholicism in this overwhelmingly Muslim country. It has already produced numerous vocations to the priesthood and religious life—including two bishops. Also from Khushpur was the former Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, murdered by ...
Support Ongoing Formation for 45 Priests and Deacons in the Central African Republic
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The Central African Republic is one of the poorest and most underdeveloped nations in the world. It is a country that is plagued by constant unrest and attempted coups; many areas are under the control of armed rebel groups. In the midst of these difficult circumstances, the Church continues to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel and bring the Sacraments to the people. The Church has also stepped in to help in many areas that are normally the responsibility ...
A Car for the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Ukraine
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Last year, the Little Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary celebrated the 25th anniversary of their work in Kharkiv. The anniversary was a sad occasion, however, since this city, the second largest in Ukraine, is in the east of the country and has been caught up in the fighting since the start of the war. Rocket and missile attacks are a regular occurrence. In happier times, the Sisters were occupied primarily in the cathedral parish. One of them was ...