Mission Cooperative Letter of Appeal ~ October 2-3, 2021

Peace be with you,

My name is Fr. Raymond Nwabueze, OP and I am a Dominican Priest from Nigeria. I presently live and do mission work here in the United States as the Mission Director for the Dominican Fathers and Brothers Province of Nigeria (we are also known as the Province of St. Joseph the Worker). I am also the main catholic chaplain at the National Children’s Medical Center in Washington, DC. 

The purpose of this short appeal letter to you is to ask for your financial, spiritual and moral support to the missions in which the Dominicans Fathers of Nigeria promote in preaching and propagation of the faith. Because of this pandemic that has affected every country in the world, I am so sorry that I am not here in person to make this appeal. My prayer is that God may have mercy and heal our world. We will rise stronger from the ashes of this pandemic. Amen! 

As a group, we are currently the largest Province of our Order on the African Continent and the fastest growing entity of the Dominican Order in the world. As Dominicans in Africa, our ministerial focus is evangelization through the preaching of the Gospel. For this purpose, we have our members working in the areas of promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, formation of local clergy, primary and on-going evangelization, dialogue with Islam,  education of children in Catholic schools: elementary and high schools, colleges and universities,  as well as hospital chaplaincies. We are also involved in justice and peace ministries, including basic developmental ministries that help to concretely translate the Gospel into everyday life. These include youth development programs and primary health care delivery. Our friars currently do mission work in about six countries, including the United States of America. We work in Ghana, Zambia, Grenada and St. Lucia. 

This year, we plan to dedicate the proceeds from the appeals to our formation programs for the priesthood and religious life. Our Dominican House of Studies in Nigeria presently has over 100 seminarians preparing for the priesthood and maintaining that number is a huge task. We rely on support from good people like you to be able to keep the place going. It costs a minimum of $5,000 annually to take care of room and board, health and tuition of a single seminarian in Nigeria. Vocation to the priesthood in Nigeria has seen a rise in recent years that every year we get in excess of 400 applications and we can only take a maximum of 15 men because we don’t have enough rooms and funding. We want to do more because the world needs us. Your generosity towards providing good and holy priests to spread the gospel and God’s goodness around the world will be much appreciated. You can support one seminarian with as low as $25 which is the daily upkeep cost for one seminarian and you can decide to sponsor one for a year with $5,000. We appreciate whatever you are able to give. 

We are aware that the present economic situation may affect your response but be assured of our constant prayers for you and your entire families. Together as a Christian people we are stronger and we will beat this pandemic with the help of God. Please, give in support of the mission of the Dominican Fathers of Nigeria and say a Hail Mary for us whether you are able to donate or not. 

Please make your checks out to your parish and indicate in the memo at the bottom of the check that it is for the Dominican Fathers. 

God Bless You All

Fr. Raymond Nwabueze, OP, Mission Director,
Dominican Fathers & Brothers Province of Nigeria Inc.
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 5087, W. Hyattsville, MD 20782

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