Dear parishioners, You and our archdiocese have been generous in helping plant new churches in the mission field. This year we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of our mission in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, where we have helped establish four parishes. I had the privilege of serving at the newest and largest, Jesucristo Resucitado, and it was amazing to see how the other parishes were producing many families that lived the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesucristo Resucitado parish has one of the largest and most active St. Vincent de Paul societies in Venezuela, mainly comprised of young adults.
We also have been given the opportunity to assist the mission of Jesus Christ in Kenya, the Diocese of Kitui. The following summarized letter from Ramona McGee will acquaint and inspire your generous financial help and prayers. Ramona will give a short presentation before all the Masses on the weekend of Aug. 7-8. We will take up a second collection at those Masses.
God bless you, Fr. Thomas McCabe
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Thank you for the invitation to share with you about the partnership between the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya, and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. My name is Ramona McGee, and in 2004 I was asked to house a priest from Kitui who was doing MCP (Mission Cooperation Plan) appeals at St. Michael, Pine Island. I have been to the Kitui Diocese three times and am a member of the Kitui Partnership Core Team. Holy Trinity was one of the five parishes in the SE Deanery chosen to form the partnership, fall of 2004. I thank those who have hosted guests from Kitui. The Diocese of Kitui is a large, growing, vibrant Church. It began with four parishes and less than 2,000 Catholics in 1956, and has since grown to include 29 parishes with about 330,000 Catholics. It is a leader in providing charitable services for all those who live in its boundaries: many of the region’s hospitals are Catholic; the Kitui diocese provides water and food relief in times of economic hardship and famine; and in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has provided food, masks, soap, and other necessities. Much of this work is funded by appeals like this one. Our solidarity partnership with the Diocese of Kitui began in 2004. Early in the partnership, there was a mutual agreement to work together to address a major difficulty: access to clean water. Located in a semi-arid zone south of the equator and Sahara Desert, rainfall in the Diocese of Kitui can be unpredictable. Some residents walk miles to access water for cooking, cleaning and bathing. Through the incredible generosity of the people in our Archdiocese, the partnership has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last 15 years, enabling our brothers and sisters in Kitui to build dams or purchase large water tanks to store rainfall, and provide emergency food when there was no rain to support crops.
Funds this year will support two organizations: half of all donations received will be allocated to the general operating budget of the Diocese of Kitui to help offset losses experienced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Remaining donations will be given to the fund supporting the Global Solidarity Partnership between Kitui and our Archdiocese, allocated according to need to purchase additional water tanks and construct at least two more dams; and support the general and administrative work of the partnership. We thank you for any amount you are able to contribute, and for your support of our solidarity partnership with our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya. Please know how grateful we are and how much we appreciate your generosity. In Christ, Ramona McGee.
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