Help Holy Spirit Fathers with their Pastoral Work in an Underdeveloped Region of Ethiopia

Will you give to help these Holy Spirit Fathers better serve and develop this poor region of Ethiopia? We are sure they will gratefully remember you in their prayers.

In many ways the Catholic Church is in her infancy in the far south of Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Catholic missionaries only arrived in the region for the first time 45 years ago, but the Holy Spirit Fathers – the Spiritans – who work in this area have now established three parishes and several schools.

The Spiritans work with the Borana people. While traditionally nomads, some have recently become more permanently settled since the missionaries sank boreholes and made wells for the people, who have now settled nearby. Many still continue to live a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place with their flocks of cattle in search of grazing lands. Support this Project

As this is a very arid region, water is a matter of life or death. As a result, the Borana people occasionally come into conflict with members of other tribes when the water supply dwindles and grazing become scarce, or where one tribe drives its herds onto the territory of another.

Since the Catholic Church has been present in the region there have been fewer such conflicts. In the past there was an unwritten law whereby the men had to show courage by fighting. If one‘s opponent drew his weapon, then he too had to be ready to fight. Now things have changed to some extent, since the tribesmen who have embraced Christianity are now immediately ready to make peace.

For the women, too, the presence of the Church has changed their lives for the better. In the tradition of the Borana people, a girl never “marries” but “is married.” She is never even asked for her consent to the marriage, and in the past generally there was no sense of the dignity of the woman. If a girl should fall pregnant before the marriage, she would be sold off to an enemy tribe. Now the Catholic Church is teaching a different understanding of marriage, teaching that both man and woman have an equal dignity in the sight of God.

There is also growing interest in education among the people. The Church is encouraging parents to realize that a school education is just as important for girls as for boys. The Holy Spirit Fathers have accordingly opened several schools in this region. Initially the people were mistrustful, but gradually they have come to understand that education can help them to improve their lives and better understand their own rights and dignity. Still more importantly, they can deepen their understanding of their newfound faith by reading the Bible and other religious writings.

There is great interest in Christianity, especially among the children and young people, and the Holy Spirit Fathers want to intensify their work. For example, they organize meetings with young people from other tribes. In this remote and underdeveloped region it is usually very rare for young people to be able to meet and talk with young people of other tribal groups. Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country where over 80 different ethnic groups rub shoulders and speak as many languages, and in many cases also belong to different religious groups, so meeting is a crucially important experience. It is not unusual for young people to wander away from their own remote and underdeveloped regions into other areas, or into the towns and cities, and then they can face major problems coming to terms with what is to them an entirely alien environment.

It is also important for the adults to be carefully accompanied on their path of faith. Many of those who are baptized are already married according to traditional tribal customs. When they embrace Christianity, they are helped to prepare for a Christian marriage in church, so that they can live their lives in a truly Christian spirit. It is clearly seen that the number of the Catholic faithful who attend Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion increases considerably as a result of these marriage preparation programs. The Fathers also try as often as possible to visit and accompany the sick and the handicapped, who cannot get to church, and to give them the opportunity to receive Holy Communion and, where appropriate, the Sacrament of the sick.

The Holy Spirit Fathers are also trying to improve the training of the lay catechists who visit the people in their villages and help teach the Faith to them, since it is clearly important for them to have a sound understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Church, so that they in turn can guide others to the faith and help them to deepen their faith life.

We have promised the Fathers $5,500 so that they can deepen and intensify their varied and vital pastoral outreach in this area of primary evangelization.

Will you give to help these Holy Spirit Fathers better serve and develop this poor region of Ethiopia?

We are sure they will gratefully remember you in their prayers.

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