How Vatican Funding Cuts Weigh On The Faithful In Africa

IDIOFA — “We’re in a slump," is the polite expression from the local priest in this parish in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The cleric notes that with virtually no revenue from church activities, the faithful had long relied on funding from Catholic Church headquarters to keep their parish afloat. "Many thought the help from Rome would last forever, but they think we’ve grown big enough,” the Idiofa priest explains. “Rome still sends subsidies to the dioceses. But they are lower every year."

Throughout the region, reports are that Vatican funding per diocese is currently down to $30,000. “Already in the early 1990s, Rome announced the gradual reduction of subsidies for dioceses and seminaries, big or small,” the priest recalls.

Photo: Patrick Meinhardt/ZUMA

The Vatican’s contribution to encourage priests to celebrate at least one Mass every day is over. It feels the DRC’s Church is now sufficiently developed to stand on its own two feet.

Passing the basket

Since then, more and more priests in the DRC have been asking their followers to contribute some of their own money to support the maintenance of their churches. And it’s working, as many new parish churches have been built thanks to the donations of Christians and the contributions of neighboring dioceses.

As an example, in October 2014, the priest of Bukavu’s Catholic Bienheureuse Anuarite parish told his faithful he wanted to collect money for Mission Sunday, which is celebrated every autumn. Called “Peter's Pence,” that day’s collection traditionally goes towards the bishop, who...