Society of African Missions Appeal

[The Society for the Propagation of the Faith annually accepts requests from Mission Dioceses and Religious Orders working in missions all over the world to preach at parishes for the purpose of making an appeal for financial support for their communities.] 

This year, 2022, the Society of African Missions (SMA) Fathers are once again grateful to Sacred Heart Parish, Moline, for accepting our application to make an appeal. I will be sharing with you a letter from an SMA priest, who is serving as both Pastor, and Administrator of a Catholic village school in Liberia, West Africa. 

This year’s appeal is an urgent cry for help, on behalf of poor parents, to educate their children. Everybody knows that educating children is critical to their growth, and the development of both Church and State. The late president Nelson Mandela of South Africa once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

In their efforts to educate their children in Africa, mothers face moral, spiritual, financial, and social challenges, especially in educating their daughters. They need financial support to keep girls in school. Edward Osborne Wilson wrote that “The education of women is the best way to save the environment.” I agree with him!!

- Fr. Matthew Cole SMA