While visiting a parish in his diocese recently, Bishop Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD of Ghana, Africa was dismayed to find the church building without a roof. A strong wind blew it off in the coastal community of West Africa. Just a year ago, he advised the parish to plant trees to serve as a windbreak to protect the building. Trees had not been planted.
Nine-year-old Sophia Garcia sits on the floor of her home helping her mom, Esmeralda Guerrero, go through applications for missionaries hoping to speak in the Diocese of Davenport.
Sophia, an incoming fifth-grade student at All Saints Catholic School in Davenport, enjoys learning about where different countries are located and how these missions help Catholics and others throughout the world — especially when a mission benefits children.
By Lindsay Steele The Catholic Messenger “Growing up as an orphan, I’m one of the people who received support from generous people like you,” Father Fortunatus Rwehikiza tells viewers in a video on the Diocese of Davenport’s Missionary Cooperation Plan (MCP) website. In the video, the Tanzanian priest, who recently studied at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, speaks about the needs of his home diocese of Rulenge-Ngara, which include access to clean water, maternity homes and tuition for seminarians.