The diocese of Tenkodogo was established just 13 years ago and is therefore still only slowly becoming established. It covers an area of a little under 4000 square miles (10,000 km²) – bigger than many small countries (such as Lebanon, for instance). But so far it has only 12 parishes, which are similar in area to many European dioceses. It has just 200,000 Catholics, widely scattered and ministered to by a total of just 35 priests, who must inevitably travel long distances in order to reach the villages within their respective parishes. Needless to say, some of these outposts are extremely difficult to access.
As a result the priests urgently need motorcycles for their ministry. The local Church is poor, since Burkina Faso has long been among the poorest countries in the world. And the situation has only grown worse recently, as a result of the severe economic crisis of recent years and above all the precarious security situation. For in recent years wide swathes of the country have fallen prey to a growing Islamic jihadist terrorism. And even where the situation is still more peaceful, the consequences are everywhere evident, with numerous families having fled for safety to these areas. The local communities have taken in these people and are helping to care for them, thereby leaving very few resources left for other purposes.
Nevertheless, Bishop David Koudougou is very concerned to promote the proclamation of the Gospel. He wants to bring the faithful closer to Christ and his priests to be closer to the people, so that they can support them in their faith and accompany them in their needs and difficulties.
Last year, thanks to your generous help, we were able to equip seven newly ordained priests with motorcycles for their pastoral work. „We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to ACN for this precious support“, Bishop David writes. But at the same time he has another request. He wants to establish two new parishes in the western part of his diocese, since at present these areas are simply too big to permit a fruitful pastoral outreach. There will be two priests in each of these new parishes, and he is hoping to be able to enlist four missionary priests to come and work in his diocese. They too will urgently need motorcycles in order to be able to reach the Catholic faithful in the villages.
The cost of these four motorcycles is 13,300 Euros, or 3325 Euros each. Bishop David is hoping you will be able to help him once again. He writes, „We are counting on you once again for the future! And may God bless you!“
