WASHINGTON JANUARY 15, 2016 (CISA) – The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Africa announced the approval of 42 grants totaling $1 million to support pastoral projects in 18 countries in Africa.
As reported by Zenit, grants from the Subcommittee focus on providing support to dioceses and Episcopal Conferences to help build their capacity for pastoral ministry.
Projects include organizing bible courses, formation of catechists, support for seminarian formation, and support for the structures needed for growth.
The Catholic population in Africa has more than tripled to more than 200 million since 1980, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). “The growth of the church in Africa is a gift to the Church as a whole,” said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington and chairman of the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa during the meeting at which the grants were approved.
“It is through the work of the Subcommittee that we will continue elevate the spiritual well-being of our brothers and sisters on the African continent,” Archbishop McCarrick.
The grants were approved during the November 2015 USCCB General Assembly in Baltimore. Grants from the Subcommittee are funded by donations to the annual collection for the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa.
The Subcommittee on the Church in Africa oversees the Solidarity Fund as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections.
