U.S. Bishops Approve $1 Million in Funding for Leadership Development and Pastoral Support in Africa

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa has approved 33 grants totaling $1 million in funding to support pastoral projects for episcopal conferences and dioceses across the African continent. The grants were approved at the Subcommittee's meeting on November 11 in Baltimore.

Projects slated to receive funding through the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa include the following:

● Strengthening the availability and accessibility of Natural Family Planning services in Uganda
● Creation of a continent-wide platform of Catholic student action movements, through the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM)
● Ongoing leadership and child-protection formation of local clergy in Zambia
● Integration of Catholic social teaching during priestly formation in the African Great Lakes region

""The Solidarity Fund enriches the Church in both Africa and the United States by building relationships of mutual solidarity through pastoral support for our sisters and brothers in Africa,” said Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, of Newark, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa. “I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of the faithful who give generously to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa and who continue to pray for our universal Church.""

The Subcommittee on the Church in Africa oversees the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. It allocates revenue received from the Solidarity Fund, which is a voluntary collection, as pastoral grants to episcopal conferences and their regional associations in Africa. To learn more about the work of the Subcommittee visit www.usccb.org/africa.
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Keywords: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, Solidarity Fund, Committee on National Collections, Natural Family Planning, Uganda, Zambia, Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa, Madagascar.

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