Annual Report
of Our Stewardship

Fiscal Year 2005-2006

Your Generosity Made These Projects Possible

Pastoral Work

When the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of May (CICM) was officially founded in 1862, our founding fathers declared that "the special goal of CICM is to commit itself entirely to the proclamation of the Good News wherever a missionary presence is most needed, especially among the people where the Gospel is not known or lived". To those whose lives have been touched by the Good News, we provide a solid formation leading to full participation in the life of the local community and the Christian communities throughout the world. It has been over one century and we continue to carry out this goal as we awaken dignity and hope in places where people are still oppressed and destitute.

In this past year, Missionhurst funded 33 pastoral projects amounting to $1,393,805.

In Brazil, most parishes served by CICM missionaries are growing rapidly by people migrating to the outskirts of large cities seeking a better life but the living conditions in these areas are grim; it's crowded and they lack the basic infrastructure and social services. Yet, our missionaries find that parishioners are active participants in their community and pastoral movement. They are eager to do all they can to help strengthen the faith of their neighbors but they need adequate pastoral training to meet the challenge as leaders in their respective communities. CICM priests and brothers organized lay formation programs and organized meetings, training sessions, and encounters for various groups and pastoral teams in their parish. They also selected several pastoral agents to attend the local diocese's theological courses that require the trainees to commit to four years of weekend studies. In some areas, many trainees have to travel 200 miles to the training center. The average cost is only $40 a month for each student but it is beyond the reach of many. Fr. Roy Shea, who works in the Amazon region, sought our help to defray the trainees' formation cost. Fr. Weedny Andre, whose parish is near Rio de Janeiro, also asked for our support so his parishioners can continue their pastoral studies.

Fr. Ady Mytial, also in Brazil, on the other hand, initiated a program, "General Introduction to the Bible," to enrich his parishioners' spiritual life and raise their social conscience. The pastoral agents were overjoyed with this and asked Fr. Ady to continue to expand the classes so the parish can create a true biblical tradition. The parish council voted to create a Parochial Bible School and a large number of parishioners signed up to register. Fr. Ady sought our help to buy more Bibles, study books, tables and chairs.

With your help, we were also able to regenerate Christian message while keeping in mind the dignity and role of the laity in the life of the Church. Based on this commitment, our missionaries carry out similar formation works for the lay ministers, youth groups, and women's groups in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Mongolia, and in the Southern Boarder area of Texas in the US. We also helped to build Catechetical classrooms and parish halls in Brazil, Haiti, Kinshasa, and the Philippines; build rectories in Cameroon, Haiti, Kasayi, and Zambia so the missionaries have a place to live within the perimeter of their parish. We helped to furnish a parish library with religious reference books in the Dominican Republic, and built or renovate churches in Guatemala, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Your support also enabled us to provide stable transportation for our missionaries working in the vast landscape of the Amazon.

In proclaiming the faith, it is necessary to have a Church, the House of God, for the faithful to gather, celebrate, learn, and share in their own parish. Fr. Stephanus Tarigan, CICM, asked our help to restore Mary Queen of the Rosary Church in Indonesia. The parish did not have a Chapel; it used a multi-purpose building as a worship hall and even that was burned down in 1998. The parish immediately erected an emergency tent that has evolved into a permanent place of worship. Since then, the parish added roof and iron posts and enlarged the tent that gave it the appearance of a large "barrack". The Church then underwent several improvements such as leveling the floor and erecting walls surrounding the perimeter. However, the parish population is growing rapidly and Fr. Stephanus had an urgent need to create additional spaces to respond to the needs of the 4,000 parishioners; almost 50% are university students from seven nearby universities.

Your contribution helped Fr. Stephanus to add a sacristy, a parish office, and youth ministry facility. The chapel itself will continue to maintain its open look. Fr. Stephanus assures us that the open space is still serene and calm, conducive to prayer and worship.

Faithful to its mission of establishing the Catholic Church presence in Outer Mongolia, a Buddhist nation, our CICM missionaries established the Church's presence in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. Bishop Wens Padilla, cicm, asked our help as he strives to take the infant Church to a more structured organization that addresses the needs of the steadily growing mission frontier. CICM missionaries now have three parishes that are focusing on evangelization and we continue to support their work of preparation of Catechumens and pastoral teams. More and more Mongolians have come to appreciate the annual Passion, Easter, and Christmas celebrations.

Until recently, missionaries came from Western churches and while they professed their faith, they also formed new Christian communities. The young churches they founded drew large numbers of eager young men answering the call to follow the Lord Jesus. The new CICM missionaries are coming from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They study in their own or nearby countries and then they are sent to animate, console, and build faith communities far away from their home. The formation process is long and hard and we were able to do our part to contribute to our congregation's overall formation and mission needs so that God's Word can be heard by all who long for a spiritual life. Blessed are you who helped to take away the hunger for God's loving Word.

Education Knowledge is the key to strive for peace and justice, to elevate people from poverty, or to establish basic life skills. Our missionaries are always committed to raise humanity through education that includes helping people build schools, add classrooms, raise funds for scholarships and tuition, and provide training facilities to improve the overall life standard for the people they serve. In the past fiscal year, Missionhurst provided help for 7 educational programs for a total of $85,715. In many African cities and villages, poverty and sickness are common scenes. Ngoya Village in Cameroon is one of them. This poor rural village has more than 200 families who earn their living through farming small plots of land that barely provide them a subsistence living. In recent years, this village was faced with harder times due to low market value on their crops and higher energy costs. Most parents can not even afford the basic necessities such as medicine and clothing for their children. Therefore, education became an item of unreachable luxury. Fr. Laurent Khonde, cicm, is the Rector of the CICM Formation House in the area and he frequently visits and helps at the local parishes. He started helping a small number of orphans and the poorest students with his own funds and through Caritas but more deserving students were showing up to ask for his assistance. Fr. Laurent turned to us for help because it's important for these students who have academic aptitude to complete their education. The unthinkable alternative for these talented youth is immoral street life. We were able to fund these students' tuition, books, and transportation. In the nearby village of Tsinga, the majority Beti tribe lives on agriculture and raising small numbers of farm animals. Fr. Emmanuel Luamina, cicm, is the Formation Director who accompanies the pre-novices visiting the street children with the hope of bringing them to face the realities of life. These street children come from the neighboring countryside and most are orphans who lost their parents to AIDS. Over time, our pre-novices persuaded some of these children to return to schools. They were also able to find some kind-hearted families to provide a small corner in their house to stay to keep these youngsters away from the streets. Fr. Emmanuel asked our help to send these children to school. These boys and girls are attending different grades and they all have the desire and ability to complete the required education. Now, with your help, they have the chance to qualify for a certificate from a renowned school and the opportunity for a life of hope. Meanwhile, we continue to support Fr. Ernesto Amigleo to help those college students who need financial assistance to attend the Catholic University in Makassar, Indonesia. The base scholarship program he initiated is working well and the recipient students express their gratitude that you extended a hand to them so they may continue their studies in Education, Engineering, Law, Agriculture, and Economics. In West Kasayi, Congo, there is a Tubuluku Village that sits in a visible location along the main road between the East and West Kasayi Provinces. The villagers are humble peasants earning low incomes but with a large number of school age children. When the village children graduate from the elementary school, they will face a 15km daily walk to continue their high school education. The Church Council decided they should build a much needed high school so they donated the land and laid the foundation. They also leased the elementary school space in the afternoons to open space for two secondary classes. Their resources are limited so Fr. Jean-Baptise Kapinga, cicm, sought our help to complete the 6-classroom school building that will be called the St. Celestin High School. The school will offer regular academic courses that will emphasize accountability. They will also provide skill-training classes for drop-out girls that will enable them to become self-reliant. All of these are examples of how your kindness and support can help sow seeds in very fertile fields: fields that will blossom under the bright rays of hope and God's love.

Relief and Health Care "When I was naked you clothed me, when I was thirsty you gave me drink." My friends, you have always come through when you heard the cry from far away regions. Indeed, your help gave true meaning to the mission of the universal Church. In fiscal year 2005-2006, Missionhurst provided financial means for 6 important relief and health care programs in the amount of $87,249. In many areas, our missionaries work with the most deprived and neglected people where malnutrition, hunger, and poor health are common, but ignored by the civil authorities. Often, the poor would come and knock on the doors of our missionaries who are their only hope. Our missionaries dig in their own pockets whenever there are a few dollars left and they often provide emergency transportation for the sick and dying. Sometimes their concerns and prayers for the poor are alleviated by actions when they have the willing cooperation of the people they serve and a helping hand from you. This year we helped to build a home for the elderly in Indonesia, fund a nutrition project for prisoners, and fulfill the needs of the lepers in Kasayi. In Kinshasa, we helped purchase sewing machines and supplies for the handicap training center and we subsidized the medication costs in rural health zones. In Mongolia, we helped start a training program for alcohol prevention. Alcoholism has become a widespread problem among the youth and jobless. The rise of alcoholism also raised the danger of domestic violence and our missionaries saw the ugly end result of abuse and abandonment of helpless women and children. Your help gave our missionaries the means to conduct an alcoholism prevention campaign to stave off the destruction of family and restore hope, humanity and dignity to the desperate and the innocent. Brother Jerry Galloway, cicm, is an American born public health physician who devotes his life serving the pygmies in Pendjua, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Civil war and inflation presses more people into poverty so nearly half of the pregnant women still cannot afford prenatal care and a sizable portion of children are not receiving the complete series of vaccinations. Combined with the shortage of clean drinking water, the area is still suffering from many preventable epidemic diseases which led to high mortality rates among women and children. Bro. Jerry needed help with more affordable medications and you came through so he could restock the medicine cabinets. Seventy years ago, CICM Father Andre Hoedemackers founded a hospital for Leprosy sufferers in the Tshimuanza village in Kananga, Western Kasayi. A year ago, Fr. Gilbert Katembo, cicm, was sent with the mission of integrating the leper community with the non-lepers living in the area. The Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary had worked with the lepers for the past 60 years and they taught the stronger patients to farm soy, cassava, maize and other vegetables. Fr. Andre, the Sisters, and the leaders of the leper community came up with the plan to address their specific needs: educate the locals about leprosy and lepers, offer non-lepers the use of the medical clinic for primary health care and early detection of leprosy, and expand farming projects to include the unemployed local youth. We funded the much needed additional medical laboratory and clinic equipment, tools for educational campaigns, and farming tools and equipment. This thoughtful project will narrow the gap between the lepers and non-lepers, provide jobs and food for many, and a voice for the lepers to be active members of this community that they have called home for so many years. Fr. Ivo van Volsem, cicm, is the chaplain of the Central Prison of Kananga where he and several CICM seminarians visit daily, offering compassion and ministering to their spiritual needs. Since the civil authorities do not provide any provisions, most prisoners rely on friends and relatives for food, medicine, and drinkable water. For those lacking this kind of support, they simply starve and go without. Each day, our seminarians deliver twenty-five portions of cereal to the sick and lunches to a few of the weakest prisoners. Fr. Ivo is constantly searching for food donations and negotiating for a clean water supply with the local authorities. Each Sunday, one of the local Catholic parishes would deliver meals so the other prisoners can eat a full meal at least once a week. When Fr. Ivo asked for our help to feed forty sick inmates, we sent your prayers and financial support following our Lord's words: "when I was in prison, you visited me."

Socio-Economic Development Sometimes, a small project can slowly turn life around for the poor as they start generating income and bring nourishing food to their table. For the most deprived, all they needed is a lift, a hand that shows them the way to hope and a more positive future. In this fiscal year, we delivered a promising future to help a Brazilian parish build a center dedicated to eradicate hunger and an income project for inner city Afro-Brazilians. We helped to purchase a tortilla machine to set up a communal tortilla shop in Mexico, drill water springs and install water tanks in Kananga, Congo, and expand a skill training center in Mongolia. In fiscal year 2006, we funded 6 developmental projects in three continents in the amount of $49,396. Fr. Daniel Feys, cicm is the pastor of Holy Family Church in Kananga with over 25,000 parishioners. The majority of the local population is extremely poor. They struggle daily for their survival which includes standing in line for drinkable water for 4 hours each morning. The area suffers from chronic fuel shortage, badly damaged canals and water pipes that led to a water shortage and exorbitant prices for drinkable water that is beyond the reach of the parishioners. Fr. Daniel studied the situation and met with the local health center and the local community then decided the best way to alleviate the water shortage and improve the purity of drinkable water is to rebuild the 3 existing water springs in the valley surrounding the parish and install a large rain water tank by the Church. With your help, this poor community has easier access to cleaner water for drinking and for cooking their only meal for the day. Not too far from the Holy Family Church is our missionaries' central house in Kananga that has two generators. These generators are outdated and break down frequently so we sent funds to purchase a new generator and help to repair the old wiring and old pumps. Twice a day our confreres turn on the generators to pump water from the well to the water tower. It takes four hours to fill the tank and twice a day people from the surrounding area would line up to fill their containers. Our seminarians also use this water to provide drinking water for the street children. The generators are also used to pump the gasoline reserves, provide cold storage for the local health clinic and other perishables; it takes seven hours of generator power to cool the cold storage room daily. Santo Antonio parish is the most populated community in Itabira, Brazil. This area is also known for youth violence and vandalism and most of the families are in the lowest social economic status. The schools operate in three shifts from 7am to 11pm and jobs are scarce. The parishioners asked Fr. Daniel Orpilla, cicm, for a solution to this dire condition. As a result, the emergency income generating program was born. This program will help the jobless youth and women to purchase materials for small businesses making brooms out of plastic bottles, collecting and selling recycled paper, and purchasing sewing machines for home based alterations and tailoring. Fr. Daniel's goal is to solve the immediate livelihood problem in order to bring stability and purpose into people's lives, to encourage the parish's Afro-Brazilian ministry leaders to continue searching for a meaningful social ministry for the poorest of the poor. This well organized project will evolve to broaden and strengthen the parish ministry that will nourish the soul and bring light to the darkest corner of God's ministry. Thank you again, my dear mission friends, for making these dreams and works possible. Your spirit of generosity is remarkable and rewarding to me and all our Missionhurst missionaries around the world. May God bless you. Know of our prayers and admiration for all of you. In Addition to the projects funded, Missionhurst also: Supported education to the priesthood and forwarded gifts designated for individual missionaries or projects amounting to $701,783. Provided many of our priests in the missions with Mass offerings amounting to $28,115. Published Missionhurst Magazine six times a year to foster missionary awareness in our country.   Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Income and Expenses INCOME US$ Percentages Support from the Public 1,382,189 54.1 % Legacies and Bequests 953,941 37.3   Mission Appeals in Parishes 189,228 7.4   Interest and Dividends 30,098 1.2     2,555,456 100 % EXPENSES Program Services Pastoral Work and  Missionary Support 1,665,204 65.8 % Education Work 85,715 3.4   Socio-Economic Development 49,396 2.0   Relief and Health Care 87,249 3.5   Publication-Magazine 214,832 8.5   Total Program Services 2,102,396     Supporting Services Fund Raising 274,286 10.8   Management and General 152,054 6.0   Total Supporting Services 426,340       2,528,736 100 % Net Assets - Beginning of Year 331,799     Income exceeded Expenditures 26,720     Net Assets - End of Year 385,519     To summarize, expenses as a percentage of total income received were: 83.3% for Program Services (Missions) 10.7% for Fund Raising (Postage, paper supplies, etc.)   6.0% for Management and General Purposes Income exceeded expenses by 1.0%. A copy of the Audited Financial Statements may be obtained from Missionhurst. Board of Administration Rev. Joe Giordano, cicm Rev. Anselme Malonda, cicm Rev. William Wyndaele, cicm Rev. Leo Zonneveld, cicm Mrs. Ann Quirk Dr. Arthur Meiners Missionhurst, Inc. is a non-profit corporation exempt from the Federal Income Tax under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and qualifies for a charitable contribution deduction by individual donors.