A Car for a Parish in Moldova
Friday, February 22, 2013

Success Story

The Republic of Moldova has just one Catholic diocese. It is situated in the capital, Chisinau, where Catholics make up only a tiny, widely scattered minority of a little over 0.4 % within the total population.

In the capital Chisinau itself, a city of some 700,000 people, there are only two Catholic parishes. The Parish of Divine Providence is under the care of Father Mihai Balan. Every month he and the other three priests with whom he shares his car have to travel around 700 miles in the exercise of their pastoral ministry. The by now battered old Skoda Fabia, which the parish had been using for eight years already, already had a full 10 years under its belt. Given the terrible road conditions in the country, it is a miracle it even lasted that long, in fact.

At any rate, it had reached the point when it was more and more often in the repair shop and was consuming more and more money to maintain, making it uneconomic to repair and dangerous to drive. Father Balan turned to ACN and asked for help to buy a new car that would not be constantly beset with problems, since he and the other three priests need a vehicle not only within the town of Chisinau itself but also to reach three smaller towns in which new parishes have been established, but without priests of their own.

Father Balan and his fellow priests have to visit the sick and bring them Holy Communion, bless people's homes and organize children's and youth groups, among other activities, but they cannot do these things without a vehicle. A car is also indispensable for the social work they do within the parishes.

Through the generosity of our benefactors, ACN was able to help with $7,400 for the purchase of a new car.

Thank you for helping to prevent the life of this parish community from grinding to a standstill for lack of a suitable means of transport. May God reward you!

This now completed project is an example of our work. If you would like to support a similar project, then please indicate the reference code below when making your donation. Thank you.

Code: 440-01-29