Success Stories
A New Presbytery for a Parish in Sierra Leone Â
category
There is great joy in the town of Lakka, in Sierra Leone. Thanks to your help, the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor was able to consecrate their new presbytery. Some time ago, we turned to you for help. Father Emmanuel Francis Allie was living in an altogether derelict house, with a leaking roof and rotting stairs that threatened to collapse at any moment. The plumbing and electrical wiring were also in a dire state, and the floor of ...
A New Village Chapel in Bangladesh Â
category
The Diocese of Sylhet in Bangladesh was established in 2011. There are 20,000 Catholics in the territory, which has a total population of 14 million. Most of these Catholics belong to ethnic minority groups and are extremely poor; they have been pushed to society’s margins. This is also the case in the village of Ischachora Punjee. It is about nine miles from the parish center, and 16 of the 36 families living there are Catholic. Previously, the Catholics had a ...
A Riverboat for a Parish in Brazil Â
category
The Diocese of Humaitá lies deep in the Amazon region and serves an area of about 53,000 square miles. But most of it is covered by rainforest and is thinly populated. Many communities are on the riverbanks and can only be reached via water. This makes pastoral outreach more difficult, since the river journeys are dangerous, with rapids, floating trees, snakes, and other poisonous animals. The parish of Our Lady, Help of Christians is based in the town of Manicoré, ...
A Chapel for a Parish in India Â
category
Last year, we shared a request from Father Arbok Lyngdoh of Moharpara in northeast India. He was asking for help on behalf of his faithful, to build a new chapel in the village of Twichalong, one of 31 remote communities in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception. The local faithful longed for a proper chapel and made great sacrifices for it, but being extremely poor, they could not manage to raise the necessary funds. You responded generously to their request, and ...
Help for the Training of Seminarians in ZambiaÂ
category
The Holy Ghost Fathers, also known as the Spiritans, were founded in France in 1703. Today, its members are active in over 60 countries, evangelizing and ministering to the poor and marginalized. They work especially in remote regions, where the Church faces serious challenges. The congregation has been present in Zambia since 1971, and there are currently 19 Fathers working in three dioceses of the country. It is blessed with many African vocations and has already ordained 16 Zambian men ...
A Car for Pastoral Work in Iraq
category
Today, Christians are only a small minority in Iraq. Until 2002, there were more than 1.2 million of them, but war, persecution, and poverty have led to a mass exodus by the country’s Christian population. Estimates now put the number of Christians in Iraq at only around 150,000. The city of Basra has a population of about 1.4 million, the third-largest in Iraq. Lying on the Persian Gulf, it is the country’s major port city. It was established as early as ...