If approved, an Ad Hoc Committee for the Church in Africa, drawn from several offices within bishop’s conference, as well as other church agencies, would collect and distribute voluntary contributions according to clear criteria; use the experience of the conference, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to advise and monitor this effort; and explore the best ways to continue this response.
“The Church in Africa is the fastest growing part of the Universal Church and the poorest part of our family of faith,” the proposal states. “Spiritually rich but desperately poor, the Church in Africa needs more sustained, well-coordinated and effective help to meet current needs, address critical problems and realize its enormous potential not only in Africa, but within the universal Church.”
The proposal for the creation and management of a “Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa” is a joint project of the USCCB Committees on International Policy, Migration, African American Catholics, and Catholic Relief Services, in partnership with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States.
