Success Stories
Support for Religious Sisters in Cuba
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In the Diocese of Holguin in southeastern Cuba, 34 sisters from 13 different congregations care for the sick and elderly, accompany families, comfort the lonely and bereaved, and bring the joyful message of the Gospel to all the people. Bishop Emilio Aranguren Echeverria is most grateful for the precious and indispensable ministry of these religious sisters. He describes them as “a sign of hope” and tells us how greatly the sisters are admired by all the people. In truth, hope is the one thing that people in Cuba most urgently need, for many have almost given ...
Help for the Formation of Seminarians in Indonesia
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The Canon Regular of Jesus the Lord is the title of a new congregation of priests and brothers. Its members are especially active in the prison ministry – an important pastoral apostolate in the Church. Through the encounter with Christ, who died for all sinners, many former offenders have thereby found the strength to begin a new life. Once they are able to acknowledge their sins, repent, and ask Our Lord for the grace of inward healing, miracles can often happen in the lives of such people, many of whom have gone off the rails already in ...
Help for the Priestly and Missionary Formation of Seminarians in Peru
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For Pope St. John Paul II, the New Evangelization was a cause dear to his heart. It was for this reason that he created the “Redemptoris Mater” seminaries around the world, where young men from various different countries now follow their vocation to the priesthood. The outstanding feature of these seminaries is that the priests emerging from them are willing, at the request of their respective bishops, to work anywhere in the world as missionaries. There are 120 Redemptoris Mater ...
Ongoing Training Courses for Young Religious in the Congo
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Not only does the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the highest number of Catholics in Africa, but the Church there is also blessed with a high number of vocations, both to the priesthood and to the religious life. For example, the Diocese of Luiza in the south already has over 260 male and female religious, and more and more young women and men are eager to join their ranks. Given the great importance of their apostolate for the pastoral ...
Two Motorcycles for Priests in a Remote Parish of India
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The parish of Koilamati is situated in the state of Assam in northeast India. The 20,000 or so inhabitants belong to the ethnic minorities — above all to the Karbi tribe — and live in small village settlements in straw-thatched bamboo huts. The majority of the population are small peasant farmers or scrape together a living by traditional woodcarving or selling homemade textiles. Life is hard, and most families can only manage a meal of rice and a few vegetables twice ...
A Minibus for Pastoral Work in Sri Lanka
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The Diocese of Mannar is in northwestern Sri Lanka. A while ago, we received an appeal for help from the Vavuniya deanery, where a vehicle was urgently needed for pastoral work. The deanery includes 10 separate parishes, each of which serves several smaller villages. Altogether, there are more than 16,000 Catholics living here. The distances are considerable, however, and the area is fairly inaccessible, being covered in bushland and, in some places, by jungle. This is an area that was ...