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Catechetical programs and a people's mission in a parish in Haiti Success Story As the Second Vatican Council emphasized, the Church
is missionary in her very essence. This is a point that has been taken very
much to heart by Father Gilbert Peltrop of the Parish of Saint Gerard in
Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. "Without mission, the Church is dead,"
he says. He himself belongs to the community of the Redemptorist Fathers which,
as he says, "is there to evangelize, above all among people who are
spiritually and materially abandoned." Father Peltrop organizes catechetical sessions and popular missions in his parish, reaching a large number of the faithful through them. His aim is "to strengthen the faith of the weak in every corner of the parish and to share with them our everyday experience of faith, which we experience with Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd and liberator." The aim is also to reach out to those who do not practice their faith or who know only very little about Jesus Christ. At the same time, those people who have not yet embraced the fullness of the faith are encouraged to receive the sacraments and fully enter the family of the Church. This cannot happen without the appropriate means – transportation, sound systems, study materials – all of which cost money. In 2014, thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, ACN was able to help with $6,700 for the popular missions in the Parish of Saint Gerard. The fruits this help has borne are considerable. A great many people have been strengthened in their faith, no fewer than 475 children have been baptized and, on one single day, nine couples exchanged their marriage vows in church. Father Gilbert Peltrop has written to express his gratitude: "We thank you with all our hearts and ask you to convey our thanks also to the benefactors who have made it possible for us to sow the Word of God in every corner of the parish. Thank you, thank you!" Code: 224-01-49 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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Keeping the Faith Alive
