sfca-annual-report

ANNUAL REPORT 2022 SOLIDARITY FUND FOR THE CHURCH IN AFRICA

WWW.USCCB.ORG/AFRICA

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, In South Africa, where I was born, the songs of praise to God that fill the churches offer a foretaste of the choirs of heaven. Therefore, I am delighted that the 91 grants you made possible in 2022 through your generous donations to the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa included a grant subsidizing a new Catholic hymnal for the Xhosa people of South Africa. The Solidarity Fund empowers Catholics who are materially poor to use the rich spiritual gifts that God has given them for his service and glory. As chairman of the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I can attest that you helped African Catholics to use their gifts in many ways in 2022. If you have never been blessed to hear—and see!—Xhosa song, you are missing a magnificent experience. Two centuries ago, Xhosa Christians began creating hymns in their own language and style, in which song is unimaginable without moving to the mu sic. The previous Xhosa hymnal was out of stock, and it needed an expanded selection of hymns and liturgies. The updated edition you made possible through your contributions includes those new songs and liturgies that will bring Xhosa praises to a new generation. Though music may seem a mission very different from financial management, they both contribute to the vibrancy of the Church. A church administration grant from the Solidarity Fund for the Diocese of Buta in the Democratic Republic of Congo reflects the importance of financial transparency and strong organizational systems as a foundation for diocesan activities. In an isolated, impoverished region, you are helping to create a culture of responsible administration of church assets, so that the faithful can trust that the Church is using their gifts to promote the well-being of the Church and the people it serves.

In Kenya—where the stress, grief, and job loss of the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed many families—your gifts are restoring hope and love. With a grant you made possible, Catholic married couples have been trained as mentors to other couples, teaching them how to resolve even the worst difficulties and grow together in faith. Prisoners are of great concern to the bishops of Cameroon. Human rights groups rank the prisons in that country among the worst in the world. The Church has long had a ministry of offering spiritual comfort to inmates in these prisons, but a new grant from the Solidarity Fund is intended to bring change to the system. As clergy and lay ministers adopt new ways to accompany traumatized people, they will also learn how to address human rights abuses and advocate for better conditions. Grants from the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa bring joy; they restore faith, hope, and love and encourage beauty, truth, and goodness. Your gifts to this collection are never merely a financial transaction. The Holy Spirit works through them to carry out Jesus’ mission to proclaim glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free (see Lk 4:18). More information is available at www.usccb.org/africa . Thank you for your love for the people of my homeland and for all of Africa. Please continue to pray for them and to give and pray as generously as you are able. Your brother in Christ,

Most Rev. Peter L. Smith Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Chairman, USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Africa

2022 USCCB SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CHURCH IN AFRICA CHAIRMAN

Bishop David P. Talley, Diocese of Memphis Bishop Gerald L. Vincke, Diocese of Salina Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula, Diocese of Davenport CONSULTANTS Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap, Archdiocese of Boston Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, CSSR, Archdiocese of Newark Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, Diocese of Bridgeport Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Msgr. Kieran E. Harrington Mr. Patrick Markey Mr. Donald Rogers Mr. Fritz Zuger STAFF Ms. Mary Mencarini Campbell, Executive Director Mr. Edward Kiely, Director Ms. Mireille Gbetholancy-Kun, Grant Specialist

Bishop Peter L. Smith, Auxiliary, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon SUBCOMMITTEE Bishop Gregory W. Gordon, Auxiliary, Diocese of Las Vegas Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, Emeritus, Diocese of Beaumont Bishop Gerald Kicanas, Emeritus, Diocese of Tucson Bishop Barry C. Knestout, Diocese of Richmond Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, Diocese of Albany

Ms. Andrea Lopez, Grants Administrator* Mr. Roy Molina, Grants Administrator°

*Andrea Lopez’s tenure ended in January 2022. °Roy Molina’s tenure began in March 2022.

IN 2022 THE SOLIDARITY FUND FOR THE CHURCH IN AFRICA distributed 91 grants, totaling more than $2.6 million, so that bishops’ conferences across the continent can help dioceses to support pastoral ministries and form clergy, consecrated religious, and lay leaders to meet the pastoral needs of the growing African Church. About a quarter of those funds were used for leadership formation projects, and another 25% supported construction projects, mostly to repair and renovate essential church infrastructure that has deteriorated in a region where the Church lacks basic resources and faces many obstacles—poverty being chief among them. Other grants promoted justice and peace, evangelization, communications, formation of clergy and religious, youth ministry, catechesis, Catholic schools, and child protection. The four projects featured in this annual report illustrate how your gifts are strengthening the Church in Africa, improving the lives of African Catholics, and bringing the Gospel to people eager to encounter Christ. KENYA

Couples whose marriages were strained or even broken by stress and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic are receiving pastoral support in the Diocese of Nakuru. Grief over the death of loved ones, job loss, hunger, and other traumas have produced an epidemic of alcoholism, divorce, suicide, and even the killing of children. To address this pastoral crisis in its 58 parishes, the diocese is providing families and engaged couples with formation in the Catholic understanding of marriage, and it is teaching the interpersonal skills necessary for building and keeping a strong marital union. The program is facilitated by mature Catholic married couples who have been trained

as marriage mentors, in collaboration with priests, religious, and catechists. The mentors help engaged couples to establish solid foundations and assist married couples in crisis. This ministry responds to people who enjoy support from family and parish life, but it is also reaching out to those who lack secure and supportive communities—such as prisoners, homeless families, prostitutes, long distance truck drivers, and mariners. CAMEROON Cameroon is notorious for its brutal prisons, especially in regions affected by five years of civil war. The US Department of State’s 2022 Human

Rights Report describes prison conditions that are “harsh and life threatening due to food shortages, poor-quality food, gross overcrowding, physical abuse, as well as inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care.” The inmates include many women and children. The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa awarded a grant to the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to expand ministry training beyond basic pastoral care of prisoners, so that clergy and lay ministers also learn ways to offer accompaniment that includes advocacy for human rights. Ministers are learning how best to provide psychological support to traumatized prisoners, how to report human rights violations, and ways to advocate for improved conditions. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO In the isolated, rural Diocese of Buta in northern Congo, where 19 priests tend to more than 300,000 Catholics in a territory that would cover half the state of New York, a Solidarity Fund grant provided education in fiscal management for 121 diocesan and parish staff members. Financial training emerged as a top priority during the diocese’s three-year pastoral planning process. The Catholic Church continues to be a voice for the voiceless and a beacon of hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the five poorest nations in the world, which has long experienced political instability, violence, and corruption. Although education has improved in recent years, many adults never finish high school. Priests, despite being among

the most educated Congolese, often lack training in administration and financial management, leaving them ill-equipped to offer guidance in these matters. This fiscal management training for clergy and lay staff is intended to ensure sound, sustainable, transparent budgets and good stewardship of limited resources for all church operations in the diocese. SOUTH AFRICA The Xhosa people have a renowned Christian musical heritage in the southern part of Africa, where they have long composed great hymns in their own language and musical style. These hymns, which first emerged more than 200 years ago, became important to the entire Xhosa nation as the people struggled against European colonization and suffered under South Africa’s apartheid policies. During the 19th and 20th centuries, when many Protestant missionaries used European hymns in translation, Catholic missionaries encouraged and promoted the composition and liturgical use of hymns in the traditional Xhosa musical style. A Xhosa hymnal was published many years ago but went out of print, but it has now been updated with new compositions. The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa awarded a grant to the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference to cover half the cost of printing 20,000 copies of this precious updated hymnal. The rest of the funds will come from local resources and from selling the hymnal at a modest price to people who treasure their Catholic musical heritage.

SOLIDARITY FUND FOR THE CHURCH IN AFRICA Statement of Revenue, Expenses, and Other Changes in Net Assets for the Year Ending December 31, 2022.

REVENUES National Collections Contributions

$2,244,251 $ 360,443 $2,604,694

Income on Investments

Total Revenue

EXPENSES Grants and Donations*

$ 2,654,141

80.09% 13.00%

Program Costs

$430,944 $149,345 $77,305

Promotions and Fundraising Expenses

4.51% 2.33% 0.06%

Administrative Expenses** Allocations-Internal Grants***

$2,048

Total Expenses

$3,313,783 $3,311,735 $2,656,189

100%

Total Expenses, Excluding Internal Grants

Total Grants and Donations, Including Internal Grants

80.09% 13.00%

4.51% 2.33% 0.06%

TOTAL EXPENSES

Changes in Net Assets from Operations Non-Operating Activities: Unrealized Gain on Investments

($709,089)

($1,225,960) ($1,935,049)

Changes in Net Assets

Net Assets at the Beginning of the Year Net Assets at the End of the Year

$4,801,373

$2,866,324

*Grants approved in 2022 totaled $2,669,600. Grants and donations in 2022 totaled $2,656,189 and includes payments and write offs to grants approved in 2022 and prior years. **Includes interfund charges. ***Includes donation to Catholic Media Council and a small transfer credited to the collection.

2022 DISTRIBUTION OF APPROVED GRANTS

PROGRAM AREA

NUMBER OF GRANTS

GRANT AMOUNT

PERCENTAGE

Leadership Formation

23 16 18 11

$696,300 $617,700 $428,600 $291,300 $242,500 $107,500 $92,500 $83,200 $61,800 $48,200

26.08% 23.14% 16.06% 10.91% 9.08% 4.03% 3.46% 3.12% 2.31% 1.81% 100%

Construction*

Church Capacity Support

Communications Justice and Peace

8 4 4 3 2 2

Clergy/Religious Continuing Education

Evangelization Youth Ministry

Religious Education/Catholic Schools

Child Protection

TOTAL

91 $2,669,600

*Construction grants primarily fund rehabilitation and renovation of existing, deteriorated structures.

Religious Education/ Catholic Schools

Child Protection

Youth Ministry

E vangelization

Clergy/Religious Continuing Education

Leadership Formation

Justice and Peace

Communications

Construction

Church Capacity Support

If you miss the collection or wish to give outside of the collection, #iGiveCatholicTogether (https://usccb.igivecatholictogether.org/ organizations/usccb-church-in-africa) accepts funds online to support the good work of the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa. Thank you for your support!

For more information about the USCCB’s work with the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa and around the world, please visit www.usccb.org/Africa .

or write: Office of National Collections 3211 Fourth Street NE | Washington, DC 20017

Copyright © 2023, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. All rights reserved. Photos: Will Baxter/CRS, Jennifer Lazuta/CRS, Sam Phelps/CRS, Laura Elizabeth Pohl/CRS