Nearly $1.4 million in funding approved for Church in Africa, Including Pastoral Care for Migrants and Youth Summer Vocations Camp

WASHINGTON—TheU.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church inAfrica approved 54 grants totaling nearly $1.4 million in funding to supportdioceses and pastoral projects across the African continent.

Projectsapproved to receive funding include:

• InAngola, the Episcopal Commission forthe Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CEPAMI) is a commissionunder the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé that promotes thepastoral care of migrant communities. CEPAMI will provide training to about 40leaders over two weeks. With this training, leaders will be able to assist,guide and organize the pastoral work for migrant communities in the 19 diocesesof Angola.

• InWest Africa, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Liberia will organize a summercamp for 100 youth from each of the three dioceses located in that country.Many of the youth are from poor families and have few resources. The countryitself has suffered greatly from a 14 year civil war and the Ebola outbreak.This camp will provide a place for the children to stay, pray, receive basiccatechism lessons and play together.

"Ourbrothers and sisters on the African continent often face challenges differentfrom what we know in the United States, but we are united by the same faith,"said Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, of Newark, chairman of the Subcommittee onthe Church in Africa. "The generosity of Catholics in the United States to theSolidarity Fund for the Church in Africa has supported these communities asthey grow and strengthen their faith in the wake of wars, migration, anddisease."

Additionalareas of funding include seminarian and religious formation, evangelization,family ministries and lay leadership training.

TheSubcommittee on the Church in Africa oversees the Solidarity Fund for theChurch in Africa as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. It allocatesrevenue received from the Solidarity Fund, which is a voluntary collection, aspastoral grants to episcopal conferences and their regional associations inAfrica. To learn more about the work of the Subcommittee visit www.usccb.org/africa.

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB,Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, grants, training,pastoral care, Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa

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