Mission Cooperative Plan
August 1 and 2, 2020
Learn about, take inspiration from, and support missionaries from around the globe.
The summer Mission Cooperation Plan is an opportunity for our parish to learn about, take inspiration from, and support missionaries from around the globe. This summer, due to the pandemic, it is impossible to have an in-person visitor, so we are hearing from our mission cause in a different way. We will hold the Mission Co-op collection on August 1-2 and so on that weekend we will hear a missionary reflection from The Brothers of St Charles Lwanga .
The Brothers of St Charles Lwanga (the Bannakaroli in our native language), are the oldest indigenous institute of religious brothers in sub-Saharan African. Based in Uganda, the institute was founded 1927. They are also known as the Bannakaroli, which means “Sons of Charles” in the Luganda language. They took their name from the leader of the Uganda Martyrs, a group of boys and young men who were pages to the king of Buganda. Between 1885 and 1887, 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican pages chose martyrdom over renouncing their Christianity at the order of the king.
The Brothers serve children and youth from the marginalized communities through schools, vocational programs and orphanages in East Africa. We accompany young people in the creation of hope-filled future, the Brothers have extensive network of schools and training institutes for vocational skills.
We give special attention to the education of girls, young women, including teenage mothers who have been forced to leave school to care for their small children and who are among the most vulnerable human being in the society. We work with them to protect their unborn children and their dependent young ones.
Some of the Brothers work in orphanages and slums where we rescue, rehabilitate, educate, and reintegrate thousands of children from streets and slums.
Our way of life is reflected in our services to the poor. We are committed to human dignity and social justice, and we try to integrate faith and hope in our services.
A major drive for the Brothers is water security for St. Leo’s Boarding Primary School. They need tanks for harvesting rainwater and especially digging wells to provide water throughout the year for bathing, raising crops, and livestock. An average well costs $35,000. In African we have a proverb which says: “One by one makes a bundle.” Even one dollar makes a difference.
In brief, the message of today’s Gospel is this: Jesus invites us to cooperate with him in working miracles not unlike those he worked in biblical times.
Whatever we give him—our time, our sacrifices, our responses to those in need—he will use it in a way that exceeds our greatest expectations. He will multiply it beyond anything we dreamed of, just as he did with two loaves and two fish.
We are called to do what the Apostles did in today’s Gospel: we must give Jesus our five loaves and two fish and let him do with them whatever he will. And if we do this, we can be sure of one thing: he will multiply them beyond anything we ever imagined possible. Pope Francis calls us to care and support the poor as part of our spiritual lives.
If you are able, place a donation to support this cause and others like it in the collection basket, or you can make a donation online at WeAreMissionary.org/give.
Thank you for your generosity; thank you for being part of our ministry.
Bro. Charles Nuwagaba, BSCL