Throughout the season of Lent, Catholics are called to embrace the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in preparation for the joy of Easter Sunday. These practices remind us that we are not made solely for this world but for the Kingdom of Heaven, which — as the above passage of Matthew 13 refers to — should be worth everything to us.
Through the tenets of Catholic Social Teaching, the Church also calls Christians to spread the Gospel by building a just society — and the almsgiving of Lent is a practical way of answering that call. The Church tells us that a just society can be measured by seven themes: how we uphold human dignity, how we uphold the dignity of marriage and family, how we protect human rights and responsibilities, how we treat the most vulnerable, how we respect the basic rights of workers, how we live in solidarity with one another, and how we care for God’s creation.
At Cross Catholic Outreach, our mission is rooted in the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. We partner with ministries and organizations in developing countries that are carrying out these tenets of Catholic Social Teaching in inspiring and effective ways. Several of these ministries originate in African dioceses that are working to ensure the most vulnerable in their region have safe, clean water. As you read the stories of children and their families in countries such as Malawi, consider how you can generously support their missions of mercy and bless those in need by providing hope in this Jubilee Year of Hope.
“Do children in America also collect water from rivers and streams?”
Patricia posed this heartbreaking question when we recently visited her family in Chilipapa, an isolated village in the mountains overlooking Lake Malawi. Surely, she thought, children everywhere must endure the same water woes; tripping and scraping their knees while carrying buckets up steep and rocky paths, catching painful illnesses like typhoid and dysentery, and ultimately being too sick and tired to keep up with schoolwork.
Just as many of us couldn’t imagine drinking water from this dirty stream, Patricia cannot yet fathom what life would be like to have easy access to safe, clean water. With help from faithful U.S. Catholics, Patricia and many other girls in sub-Saharan Africa won’t have to imagine it — they’ll be living a bold new reality where clean water is readily available in their communities.
Your Lenten almsgiving will allow our ministry partners in Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia to set in motion a plan that will result in safe, abundant water for thousands of African families! This process generally includes:
Your contribution will do much more than provide a safe, reliable source of water. It will also allow families to go from surviving to thriving — with improved health and more time for school, worship, family bonding and income-generating activities.
In Africa, there are many reasons poor families have been unable to obtain clean water on their own. First, those who attempt to hand dig a well often cannot make it deep enough to reach safe, flowing water. Even when they can reach water initially, those simple wells often dry up during certain times of the year. Additionally, relocating to places where cleaner water is more available is not financially viable. These families are simply too poor to leave the villages they grew up in. As Catholics, we seek to bring God glory by creating a long-lasting, sustainable transformation that keeps families united and helps communities thrive.
Get more answers to frequently asked questions about water needs here.
Throughout the Lent and Easter seasons, we are asking U.S. Catholics to provide hope by giving drink to the thirsty through Water for Life Africa. In Cross Catholic Outreach’s Easter Catalog, there are many other opportunities to engage with the Church’s social teaching principles by blessing the vulnerable. For instance, you can:
We should never underestimate what is possible when the Church stands in solidarity with those in deepest need. The generosity of U.S. Catholics can also influence the watching world. Our spirit-filled actions can model the transformative power of God’s love, open hearts and minds to the importance of Catholic Social Teaching, bring lasting change to impoverished communities, and show how hope can be restored when we serve others in Christ’s name. Please join us in this mission of mercy and proclaim the joy of Christ’s resurrection by providing for the poor both materially and spiritually.
Donations from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred through June 30, 2027, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
