Transportation

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux first came to Pakistan almost 50 years ago. Today, this congregation, founded in France in the 19th century, has 32 religious sisters working in almost all the Pakistani dioceses. They help the priests in the parishes, support the vulnerable and needy, and work in education, healthcare, and pastoral support.   The Holy Family Sisters also work in the parish of the Sacred Heart in the diocese of Faisalabad. They minister to seven villages ...

The propedeutic, or pre-seminary, in the Diocese of Kasongo is on the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the population has a Muslim majority, unlike in other parts of the country. The seminary was founded in 1936 and soon took in candidates from other dioceses. They would study there for two years, preparing for their entry into the major seminary. There is space for 60 young men altogether.   But the seminary is facing a major problem: it ...

The missionary congregation of Saint Francis of Sales was founded in France in the mid-1800s. Today, it has 1,500 members and is particularly active in the field of education, from primary school to secondary and vocational school. The brothers of the congregation are also dedicated to the poor and disadvantaged. They work in about 30 countries, including Kenya.  The parish of Saint Michael of Chera is in central Kenya and has been run by the Salesian Fathers since 1997. It ...

Three sisters of the congregation of Saint Joseph live and work in the city of Starokostyantyniv in West Ukraine. The sisters visit the elderly and the sick; they distribute food to the needy; they organize catechetical sessions, retreat days, and other parish activities. But their focus is the care of young people, from both refugee families displaced by the war on Ukraine and the local parish. The sisters run camps for them in the summer, giving them the chance to ...

Burundi is one of the smallest countries in Africa, at just under 11,000 square miles, but one of the most densely populated, with almost 12 million people. Ranked the poorest country in the world, it has been plagued by multiple genocides and a civil war that lasted from 1993 to 2005. To this day, Burundi is politically unstable, and escalating violence is a risk at any time. The country’s Catholic Church is relatively young. The first missionaries arrived here 125 ...

Father Darko Anušić has a heavy workload and is constantly on the move, since he is responsible for two parishes in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, for giving religious instruction in several of the region’s schools, and for the care of two cemeteries. He also brings goods to the needy, visits the sick and the elderly, and helps out in neighboring parishes. In order to complete all these tasks, he depends on a reliable vehicle. Not only does he have to ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...