A proposal for aiding the Church in Africa is in discussion amongst the Bishops of the United States since November 2003. We are reminded that the Church in Africa is the fastest growing part of the Catholic Church and the poorest community of the Catholic family. Spiritually rich but desperately poor, the Church in Africa needs more sustained, well-coordinated and effective assistance to meet current needs, address critical problems and realize its enormous potential amidst world nations.

The U.S. Bishops’ committee on International Policy conjoint with its committees on Migration, AfricanAmerican Catholics and the board of Catholic Relief Services, in consultation with The Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States, are working together to find a more effective response to the urgent ecclesial challenges with the Church in Africa. These efforts seek to build on already existing initiatives, but would be at this juncture: more sustained and generous, more strategic and focused on the greatest pastoral needs and more coordinated and collaborative with more effective accountability measures.

An initial survey indicated that more than 66% percent of the dioceses that responded are prepared to contribute to a fund which would provide greater resources for the service of God’s people in Africa.

Discussion at these levels carries forward the message of the U.S. Bishops’ recent statement, A Call to Solidarity with Africa, that was adopted by the body of bishops in 2001 and warmly received throughout Africa. It also reflects themes of the late Pope John Paul II’s concluding document to the 1994 African Synod of Bishops, Ecclesia in Africa. It also seeks to respond constructively to eloquent appeals of the Catholic bishops of Africa, the hopes of the Holy See and the experience of the national office for the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and those of missionaries and Catholic Relief Services’ workers in Africa. It is also a response to the requests of the U.S. Bishops and others who have been to Africa and have witnessed the Church’s remarkable growth and vitality as well as its poverty and desperation.

To shepherd this initiative forward the U.S. Bishops have established an Ad Hoc Committee for the Church in Africa and appointed Bishop John Ricard, SSJ of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee as its Chair. This committee will pilot a solidarity fund for the Church in Africa. The fund will be the repository of amounts raised through voluntary diocesan collections, gifts and other means. It will be the responsibility of this desk for receiving, distributing and accounting for these funds and designating them for projects of the Church in Africa which reflect the priorities of Ecclesia in Africa, attend to the areas of greatest need and provide the Church in Africa with opportunities to effectively plan, provide clear systems of accountability and provide a basis for assessment, planning and decision making for future assistance.

The Church in the United States, in recent years, has responded to the overwhelming needs of the Church in many parts of the world as demonstrated in its support for the church in Latin America and in Eastern Europe. This new initiative seeks to provide a serious, sustained and long overdue response that will meet genuine needs and strengthen the capacity of the Church in Africa. Despite the many challenges confronting the Church in the United States, the call to solidarity with Africa can no longer be postponed.

When this special collection is announced in our parishes we are confident that black Catholics will respond with generosity in the best tradition of churches coming to the aid of churches since apostolic times.

Bishop Joseph N. Perry