THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, MARCH 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A community of Indian nuns had a creative idea in asking for donations: Give us cows, and by selling their milk we can multiply the aid we give to others.
Aid to the Church in Need reported that it was «happy to oblige» when the contemplative Rosarian Sisters from St. Teresa’s Convent in Thiruvananthapuram requested three milking cows.
The nuns asked for the cows so that they could sell the milk and other dairy products with the view of funding elder care for sick or bedridden religious.
Sister Lissy Tresa, the order’s provincial superior, told the aid agency: «We solely depend on your generosity. We assure you of our daily prayers in a special way.»
The cow donation is one of many aid grants given by the agency this month, many of them focusing on helping nuns, especially in Eastern Europe.
The aid agency noted that its assistance is «vital» in the former Communist countries, where the Church needs strengthening after being «suppressed by the authorities for generations.»
Thus, aid has been sent to the religious in Poland, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
Other assistance is going to helping the Evangelizing Sisters of Mary in Kenya, aimed at promoting their self-sufficiency and supporting their novices.
Aid to the Church in Need gave financial support for over a dozen Church building projects worldwide including chapels in Kenya, Bolivia, and four in Ethiopia.
It is aiding youth work in Cuba, priestly training in Poland and Mexico, pastoral transportation to help clergy reach the outskirts of their parishes in Ghana and Belarus, and water supply in Senegal.
Neville Kyrke-Smith, the agency’s U.K. national director, affirmed, «The milk of human kindness is what we rely upon and it is fantastic to see how the friends and benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need have enabled us to offer compassion and help around the world.»
