Thy Kingdom Come!
Mexico City, October 2024
Dear Friends, peace,
Rushing to send you a bit of news before the Christmas frenzy hits! Hope you are well. In my last letter I talked about the work we are doing to help diocesan priests in poor countries. Our health insurance for poor, uninsured priests in Mexico is coming along, ever so slowly! Please keep this intention in your prayers.
Every couple of years or so, our online banking system has a nervous breakdown. Gone are the days when you could just call up your banker and have something fixed: now artificial intelligence rules the roost, and sometimes it is a lot more artificial than intelligent. At the end of August one of our payment services blocked the accounts we use to send small, monthly survival allowances to about 22 priests, and we have been working to get them back online since. Fortunately, everyone except the priests in Tanzania and Zambia are back to receiving their grants. It has been an excellent exercise in patience!
Much happier news coming from The School of the Faith in Africa. We began a new branch in the diocese of Mbulu (Tanzania), and Ignatius, our regional outreach officer, was able to visit the schools in Zambia, something I just can’t get to without help anymore. The course material is being translated into Swahili as we speak, and things are blossoming. I am currently making a YouTube video about the plight of the Church in Nigeria and hope to have it to you before Christmas.
In Guatemala and El Salvador, the Full-Time Catechists we sponsor are getting to places that almost never see a priest: check out the pictures in the report.
Advent is coming, which should be a time for more prayer and reflection (and not just more calories and Christmas shopping!). It would be good to light a candle and say a prayer for all these efforts. Thanks for your continued support. If you can spare a little something for Christmas, there is a long waiting list of poor priests in need of our financial support: every little bit will go to good use!
I am praying for you, your family and your intentions. Yours,
Fr. Robert
