The Bannakaroli Brothers in Uganda say "Thank You" for Host-Baking Equipment

Success Story

“Please be assured that your help will inspire us in our pastoral apostolate for the spread of the Kingdom of God.” These were the words of a religious Brother in Uganda as he thanked ACN and its benefactors for the grant that allowed his congregation to buy host-baking equipment to support themselves and their local Catholic community. Success Story

Founded in Uganda in 1927, the Bannakaroli Brothers are a congregation also known as the Brothers of Saint Charles Lwanga, one of the 22 Ugandan martyrs who were put to death between 1885 and 1887 in Namugongo, not far from the capital Kampala. These young men, who were canonized in 1964, served as pages in the court of King Mwanga and were cruelly killed for remaining true to their Faith and refusing to consent to the lustful wishes of their king. They were among the first Christians in the country, and their witness has borne rich fruit, for today there are more than 13 million Catholics among a total Ugandan population of around 31 million, and every year another 400,000 are baptized.

The apostolate of the Brothers is focused above all on educating the young, and they maintain schools, orphanages and youth centers. But, in order to support themselves and to fund the care of their elderly and infirm brothers, they also bake hosts, work that is normally done by female religious orders.

It all began when the Brothers who were working in the parishes found themselves constantly reporting back on the drastic shortage of Communion hosts in many of these parishes. Often, the priests were obliged to break up the hosts into small pieces in order for all the faithful to be able to receive Holy Communion.

The Brothers quickly realized that by producing Communion hosts they could not only gain a useful source of income for the congregation but could at the same time fulfill an important pastoral need, so that those members of the faithful who wished to receive Holy Communion would then also be able to receive the Body of the Lord.

The Brothers soon found that with their antiquated technical equipment they were still unable to meet the demand for hosts in the local community. But thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we were able to help with a contribution of $20,900, so that they could purchase the necessary modern technical equipment.

Now the Bannakaroli Brothers in the Archdiocese of Kampala are the proud owners of a new and efficient machine which enables them to produce 2 million small hosts each month for the congregation and 25,000 larger hosts for the priests.

Brother John Bosco Asiimwe wrote to us on behalf of his confreres to say thank you: "We are grateful to you, our benefactors, for your faithful support, by means of which you have helped us provide this Eucharistic service. Within a short space of time your help has already enabled us to massively increase our host production. We pray for you every day and are happy to include your special intentions in our prayers."

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.


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