Faithful in the Diocese of Camden are being asked give to the U.S. bishops’ Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa collection the weekend of July 13-14.
The collection helps support pastoral projects that renew faith, strengthen families, heal wounds of division and create lasting missionary disciples in the continent. Last year, the Diocese of Camden collected $101,452.
In Fall 2023, the Vatican released a report showing that from Dec. 31, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2021, out of all continents across the globe, Africa added the greatest number of Catholics – 8.3 million. As well, Africa gained more than 1,500 priests and had the largest number of major seminarians at almost 34,000. As the Church in Africa grows, so do the needs of its people.
In 2022, 91 grants totaling more than $2.6 million went to support programs in the areas of leadership formation, construction, communications, justice and peace, evangelization and child protection.
Examples of monies used include the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was able to facilitate a program on marriage and family life in the Diocese of Nakuru that included topics such as marriage preparation, Christian family life and Natural Family Planning. As well, participants learned how to provide pastoral care to people in isolated and vulnerable communities.
In the Pastoral Conference Xhosa Region, the Southern African Catholic bishops used a grant from the solidarity fund to print updated hymnals in the Xhosa language, which is spoken by an estimated 150,000 Catholics.
To learn more about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, visit usccb.org/africa.
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