Success Stories
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 ...
A Car for a Remote Parish in Rural Zimbabwe
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There is great rejoicing in Don Bosco’s mission in Mutuzukwe, Zimbabwe. Thanks to your generous support, the faithful in the remote outlying villages will no longer have to wait in vain for the arrival of their parish priest. With the help of your kind donations, ACN was able to provide $37,854 for the purchase of a robust all-terrain vehicle for the parish. The vehicle was urgently needed, for without it, pastoral outreach was nearly impossible. Until now, Father Isaac Chirwa ...
Helping Benedictine Nuns with an Agricultural Project in Chad
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The Benedictine convent of Saint Agatha, which is in the village of Lolo, in the diocese of Mondou in southern Chad, was established in May 2005. It is the first ever contemplative convent in this mainly Muslim country in central northern Africa. The first Benedictine nuns to arrive in Chad from the Democratic Republic of the Congo felt it a special grace to be able to take part in the “adventure” of this new foundation. The local population also had ...
Supporting the Prison Apostolate in Ecuador
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Some time ago, we asked for your support for the prison outreach ministry in the Archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador, a country in Latin America that is badly affected by the plague of violence. The level of this violence is particularly alarming in the port city of Guayaquil, a city of close to 3 million souls. Young people in particular, aged anywhere from 15 to 30, are especially at risk of being recruited by criminal gangs. In response, the archdiocese ...
A New Marian Shrine in India
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In November 2023, the cathedral parish of Balasore in India celebrated the Golden Jubilee of its founding. From this occasion, the desire was born in the community to establish a Marian shrine on the cathedral grounds. For until then, there was no place of devotion where the faithful could gather to express their love and reverence for the Mother of God, pray together, and light candles before her image. The cathedral grounds are, in fact, ideally suited for this purpose, ...