Special Collection For Africa Implores U.S. Catholics: “The Church In Africa Needs You”

WASHINGTON—The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, a voluntary collection held throughout the year by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), supports the rapidly-growing Church in Africa by funding projects that range from education to evangelization. Its 2012 theme is, “The Church in Africa needs you.”

“The Church in Africa continues to grow and prosper while deeply rooted in and inspired by faith,” explains Bishop John Ricard, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Africa. “However, in many places people also face hard-to-overcome challenges of high rates of poverty and unemployment, illiteracy and poor education. With the help of U.S. Catholics, the Church in Africa can turn its potential into action and work to confront challenges by educating and caring for its people.”

Écoles Catholiques du Diocèse de Djibouti is a project supporting Catholic schools that has been supported by the Solidarity Fund in Djibouti. This project gives students vocational training with Catholic principals in a faith-filled environment. Besides supporting the Christian minorities and deepening their faith it also provides education and employment for the many Muslim and Christian residents of the area.

The Solidarity Fund also assists in seminary and religious formation. For example, thanks to the support of Catholic parishioners in the United States, St. Paul’s Seminary in Liberia now operates a modern library that offers future priests a contemporary learning environment and a higher quality of learning.

For more information about the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, visit: www.usccb.org and search “Church in Africa Collection.”

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Keywords: National Collections, USCCB, Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, schools, education, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, generosity, library, seminary

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