Success Stories
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, ...
Two Outboard Motors for a Pastoral Riverboat in Colombia
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The apostolic vicariate of Guapi lies in southwestern Colombia, on the Pacific coast. The population here is mainly a mixture of Afro-Colombians and indigenous people. There is extreme poverty and widespread violence, and ever since the 1980s, illegal drug growing and trafficking have flourished, taking advantage of the strategic coastal position as an import and export point. The region has also, for decades, been the theatre of violent confrontations between the FARC guerrilla movement and the Colombian National Army. As ...
A New Chapel in Rural Bolivia
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The Parish of Saint Francis Xavier is situated in a rural region of the Diocese of San Ignacio de Velasco in the tropical eastern part of Bolivia. The people here live mainly on traditional subsistence farming; the region is largely undeveloped and they are very poor. Juancito is one of the parish outstations. It is a community of about 500 souls and only accessible on unmade roads. Juancito is also the center to which, on feast days, the other Catholic ...