The Diocese of Karonga was recently established in Malawi, Central East Africa. It covers 4,633 square miles. Currently, it has seven parishes, and 15 priests who serve 308 miles each, by car that’s a six hour car ride over mountainous unpaved road, by foot it’s a twenty day walk to get from one side of their parish to the other. With only 15 priests to serve the entire diocese, the diocese cannot open more parishes to lessen the distances within parishes and between. In order to ease the challenges of the pastoral presence of the priests parishes are divided into Outstations which are run by lay leaders.
With the support of Catholic World Mission and our donors, the Diocese of Karonga is engaging in socio-economic uplift of the lives of the people they serve. We believe that it is not enough to preach the Gospel without attending to their socio-economic needs. In underdeveloped places in Malawi over 60% of the people live on less than a dollar per day!
Project Updates
Training for Pastoral Ministers
May – June 2023
A huge thank you to the Koch Foundation whose generosity helped make this possible!
St. Thomas More Parish is based in the Diocese of Karonga in Malawi. Due to the scarcity of priests one priest, Rev. Fr. Joseph Moloka Silwese, is responsible for the Catholic ministry across 783 sq miles. This presents a barrier to evangelization work in the area.
Rev. Joseph relies on a network of lay pastoral ministers as key agents of evangelization. However, many of these pastoral ministers had received little training in the work of pastoral ministry.
You gave generously! Through the support of each of you St. Thomas More Parish equipped 473 pastoral ministers, over intensive 5-day sessions, with the tools to confidently welcome others into the Catholic faith.
“The training was very good. It was an eye-opener. I have gained a lot, and this gives me confidence to share my faith with catechumens as they prepare for their baptism.” – Ken Ndimbwa, Catechumen Instructor
Evangelizers Set to Receive Training
Summer 2019
Thanks to the generosity of a donor like you, 288 more pastoral agents will receive training at St. Mary’s parish. What an incredible gift to know that thousands more souls will hear the Good News of Christ because of the “yes” of donors like you and the “yes” of the soon-to-be-trained evangelizers!
Experiences the Fruits of Your Generosity
Summer 2018
Last summer, our friends at St. Mary’s dedicated a brand new church building! This is the same group of people you helped train as pastoral agents a few years ago. Isn’t it wonderful to see the fruits of your generosity expand and grow, years and years later? The Holy Spirit is truly alive and active at St. Mary’s in Malawi!
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