Chad is a landlocked central African country on the southern edge of the Sahara, covering an area of almost 1.3 million square kilometers, but with a population of just over 16 million, it is relatively sparsely populated. The majority of Chadians profess Islam.
The apostolic vicariate of Mongo in southern Chad covers some 540,000 square kilometers, almost as large as France. Only about 10,000 Catholics live there, and most of its 17 priests are foreigners. However, there are also native vocations.
In Chad, in two cities, the Catholic Church has major seminaries for future priests from all over the country: in Sarh, the future priests attend the Propaedeutic and study theology, while in the capital of N’Djamena they study philosophy. During the vacations, the seminarians visit their families, but also spend time in the parishes to gradually familiarize themselves with their future tasks and get used to the responsibility they entail.
At present, five young men from the vicariate of Mongo are training to become priests. For Bishop Philippe Abbo Chen, originally from Chad, the formation of future priests is one of his main concerns, but financially it is also a great challenge, because the families of the young men are poor and cannot contribute anything. The parishes even organize special collections for the formation of the future priests, but the faithful can only contribute the “widow’s pennies”, as they can hardly ensure their own survival through agriculture and livestock farming in an area characterized by drought and where the desert is becoming more and more extensive. However, tuition fees, teaching materials, room and board, medical care and everything else the future priests need is expensive, and to this must also be added the cost of travel to the places of study, several hundred kilometers away. At the same time, the Catholic Church also helps refugees from Sudan, who flock to the vicariate.
For these reasons, also this year we want to support the formation of the future priests of the vicariate of Mongo, and for this purpose we have pledged 4,900 euros.