WASHINGTON – “Despite material poverty, the Catholic Church in Africa is bursting with spiritual life, filled with converts and has abundant vocations,” said Archbishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Dubuque, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa. “The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa makes it possible for African Catholics to carry out vital spiritual and social ministries.”
Across Africa, where the boundless growth of the Catholic faith can challenge the Church as much as material poverty does, the gifts of American Catholics to the USCCB’s Solidarity Fund make this a reality.
The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa is supported by a collection that is taken up by dioceses across the country in parishes on a date scheduled by the diocese. The online platform #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the Church in Africa program year-round.
“The African Church gives generously to the U.S. Church as thousands of African priests serve in parishes of the United States,” Archbishop Zinkula said, “We are all brothers and sisters in Christ with a shared commitment to share his love with everyone.”
Gifts to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa help bishops’ conferences and dioceses throughout Africa manage ever-growing numbers of Catholics, cope with global and local crises, evangelize and renew the faith of the people. The Subcommittee on the Church in Africa awarded more than $2.6 million in 2024 for 96 grants that support ministries in 32 countries or multi-national regions of Africa.
The 2024 grant cycle included a wide variety of projects:
- In South Sudan, the Church launched an effort to build peace and bring healing to those affected by war through Catholic social teaching, trauma intervention and conflict resolution.
- Hundreds of lay Catholics in Zambia – more than a third of them women – attended regional seminars on topics such as Scripture and social services, to prepare them for catechetical ministry.
- Priests in Togo learned church administration, including budgeting, transparency and strategic planning.
- In Malawi, younger Catholics are re-learning traditional values of respect and care for the elderly through Church teaching on human life and dignity.
- In Eastern Africa, where climate change has brought deadly cycles of alternating drought and flood, the bishops of multiple nations launched an international advocacy program, working with government leaders for policy solutions while making parishes into hubs for practical responses, such as soil conservation.
“The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa lives up to its name. Your gifts build true solidarity. Though you may never have the opportunity to meet the recipient, you can trust that souls will be saved, and faith renewed because of the work supported by the Solidarity Fund,” Archbishop Zinkula said.
For more information see https://www.usccb.org/committees/church-africa
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