Support Seminarians in Chad

Chad is a landlocked country in Central Northern Africa, in the Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara. It has an area of over half a million square miles and a population of just over 16 million, making it thinly populated, relatively speaking. The majority of the population is Muslim.  

The apostolic vicariate of Mongo is in southern Chad and serves an area of approximately 211,000 square miles, almost the size of France. But there are only about 10,000 Catholics here. The majority of the vicariate’s 17 priests come from abroad, but there are several home-grown vocations now as well.  

There are two Catholic seminaries in Chad, in two of the larger cities, which serve seminarians from all over the country. In the town of Sarh, the new vocations to the priesthood serve a pre-seminary, or propedeutic, year before moving on to the capital, N’Djamena, where they study philosophy. Over the holidays, they are allowed to visit their families, but they also spend time working in the parishes, in order to gain experience for their future work and to get accustomed to the responsibilities they will one day assume. 

At present, there are five young men from the vicariate of Mongo undergoing this formation. For Bishop Philippe Abbo Chen, himself a native of Chad, this priestly formation is one of the most important priorities for the local Church. However, it is a heavy financial burden. The families of these young men are all poor and cannot contribute anything toward their training. And while the parishes do organize special collections for the seminarians, the people of this arid and drought-prone region, where the desert is advancing ever further, can scarcely even support themselves through agriculture and livestock rearing. They are in no position to offer more than the traditional “widow‘s mite.” Meanwhile, the study fees, teaching materials, board and lodging, medical care, and all the other things the seminarians require – including the cost of traveling, sometimes hundreds of miles, to their parishes and places of study – continue to add up.  

And on top of this, there are the refugees, who continue to arrive in the vicariate from war-torn neighboring Sudan, and who are also supported by the Church.  

Given all these needs, we will continue to support the vicariate of Mongo for the training of its priests, as we have done in previous years. For this year we have promised $5,045.  

Will you help these seminarians? 

155-02-79