Projects in Need
A Vehicle for Pastoral Work in Guatemala
category
With an area of over 14,000 square miles, the apostolic vicariate of El Petén covers more than a third of the total territory of Guatemala. But it is thinly populated, with only around 900,000 inhabitants. The journeys are long, and distances are measured not in miles or kilometers, but in hours, given the appalling state of the roads, which make every journey far longer than one would normally expect. And some of the parishes are larger even than entire dioceses ...
Transportation for the Prison Chaplaincy in Egypt
category
Again and again, we hear from prison chaplains just how important it is to accompany not only prisoners but their families also. Not infrequently, offenders are converted as a result, repent of their past deeds, and become worthwhile members of society, while innocent victims, unjustly imprisoned, are encouraged and saved from despair. People who have never experienced love or kindness in their lives encounter the Good News of Jesus for the first time, while families are frequently saved from breakup ...
Support for 29 Religious Sisters in Ecuador
category
Across vast swaths of Ecuador, poverty and violence are making life difficult for many parts of the population. Social inequalities are becoming still more extreme, leaving many families broken and torn apart. Many people are leaving the country at the first opportunity in hopes of finding a better life elsewhere. There are many families in need of help, and the Catholic Church is frequently the first place they turn to. The religious sisters, in particular, are “ministering angels” to so ...
Support for the Life and Ministry of Religious in Moldova
category
The Republic of Moldova lies to the east of Romania and to the south and west of Ukraine. This small country, which became independent in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is one of the poorest in Europe. A significant portion of the adult population regularly spends shorter or longer periods living abroad in order to earn a living. As a result, children and elderly people are often left behind alone. Sadly, many mothers return only after many ...
Scholarships for Poor Christian Students in Iraq
category
For young Christians in Iraq, the inevitable question is this: Is it is really worthwhile to stay in my homeland? Many have already emigrated, and the number of Christians continues to decline, because so many families and young people can no longer see any future for themselves in their home country. But since 2015, the Catholic University in Erbil has been something of a “beacon and symbol of hope,” as Archbishop Bashar Warda puts it. They started with just 11 ...
Help for the Training of Seminarians in Bolivia
category
At present, there are 20 young men training in the major seminary of Cochabamba in Bolivia. They come from various different parts of the country but are united in their wish to serve God and their brothers and sisters one day as priests. They represent a great hope for the Church in Bolivia, since the country urgently needs more priests in order to minister to the growing number of Catholic faithful. The seminarians come from very different backgrounds. Some of ...
A Vehicle for a Seminary in Angola
category
In January 2025, the Diocese of Lwena in eastern Angola suffered a devastating blow. The rector of the propaedeutic seminary was traveling with two young students to thecapital Luanda, about 750 miles away. Having already covered around 450 miles, their vehicle lost a front wheel, came off the road and crashed headlong into a tree. Both the rector and the two young students were killed on the spot. Bishop Martín Lasarte is still shaken to the core by this disaster. ...
Four Motorcycles for Priests in Burkina Faso
category
The Diocese of Tenkodogo was founded just 13 years ago and is therefore still slowly becoming established. It covers an area of just under 4,000 square miles, which is bigger than many small countries (such as Lebanon, for instance). But so far, it has only 12 parishes, comparable in size to many European dioceses, and only 200,000 Catholics, who are widely scattered and ministered to by a total of 35 priests. The priests must inevitably travel long distances in order to reach the villages within their respective parishes. And needless to say, some of these outposts are extremely ...
Mass Stipends for Priests in Colombia
category
Ever since the mid-1960s, there has been violent conflict in Colombia. During this time, around 6 million people were uprooted from their homes, and around 200,000 were killed. A further 60,000 people are still registered as missing. Despite a peace accord in 2016, many areas of the country remain controlled by armed groups, and the violence has, in fact, escalated since last year. In the more rural regions, the growing of coca for the drug trade has all but wiped out the traditional agricultural cultivation. The situation is also exacerbated by a large influx of immigrants from neighboring Venezuela, thereby further intensifying the people‘s poverty. For ...
Psychological Training for Priests in Ukraine
category
Whereas in the early days of the war, the emphasis was on direct material support for refugee families, who desperately needed to be housed, fed, and given medical care, it is now increasingly shifting to the need for psychological and spiritual support for the many people who have suffered deep emotional trauma as a result of the frightful things they have experienced. About 80 percent of the Ukrainian people have suffered some form of trauma, according to Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Often, it is the priests who are the first and sometimes ...