WelCom April 2019:
Fr David Dowling
On Sunday 5 May Cardinal John Dew will celebrate a Mass at 10.30am, St Francis de Sales Church, 173 Clyde St, Island Bay, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St Peter Claver.
Every year, the Missionary Sisters of St Peter Claver, based in Island Bay, raise money through local support, for Catholic missionary work around the world. In 2019 the money raised through the annual raffle (the Mission Appeal raffle closes 2 May), mission fair, garage sale, ethnic dinner and multicultural concert will go toward supporting three programmes in Africa: creating sustainable employment; spreading the faith; and providing water storage.
In the Kiranda Parish of Kenya, this support will assist Br Maurice Omollo cp establish a project to grow sunflowers and cereal crops, to provide youth with jobs in an impoverished village. The village has high youth unemployment, general health is poor with high incidence of malnutrition and a high mortality rate amongst children. This project will grow produce for sale at local markets, with the byproduct used to create fodder for dairy and poultry farmers.
The second project is to raise funds to purchase 20 bicycles to enable catechists in the Metehara Parish in Ethiopia to spread the word of God and reach the faithful. The parish area is large, with a 95 per cent Muslim population. The Catholic population is widely dispersed throughout the parish working in sugar plantations and factories. Fr Hailegabriel Meleku needs help to purchase bicycles to enable the catechists to travel in the evenings to conduct prayer groups in the community and help him spread the word of God.
The third project, Bishop Vincent Kirabo from the Hoima Diocese in Uganda is requesting assistance to provide two water tanks in St Matthew’s Kigaaya Parish. The water tanks will support the missionary community in the parish and provide a water distribution point for the community.
If you wish to donate to the St Peter Claver Missions please email peterclaver@xtra.co.nz or ph (04) 383-8401.