APOSTOLATE FORMATION
Our apostolate began in 1990 when Dan & Bobbi Vaughan met Monsignor Matthew Odong when he was in Minnesota making an appeal for the Consolata Missionaires. At that time he was the newly appointed rector of Sacred Heart Seminary and was having difficulty finding funds to keep the Seminary operating. Dan & Bobbi began sending money and later encouraged some of their friends to join this effort. Pete & Dottie Truax met Monsignor through Dan & Bobbi and joined them in 1996 to help raise funds and do advocacy work to raise awareness of the war between the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) and the Ugandan Government. Over the years, by the Grace of God, the funds raised increased to the point where other projects within the Archdiocese of Gulu were able to be met. Some of the projects are as follows:
• Renovation of buildings at the Seminary.
• Renovation of some Churches, Chapels and Priest’s rectories affected by the conflict throughout the Archdiocese.
• Providing transportation for clergy to minister to the people.
• Providing Mass intentions to priests of the Archdiocese of Gulu.
• Drilling of 12 wells to provide clean water for the people.
• Helping to cover educational costs of approximately 160 seminarians in the minor seminary and 58 in major seminaries. As a result, there were 17 young men ordained in the past three years.
• Supporting the education of some orphans whose parents died of HIV/AIDS or were killed in the conflict.
• Providing books for children in primary & secondary schools.
• Building Archbishop Flynn Comprehensive Secondary School in Pader where no secondary school exists. This is the largest project we have undertaken. The school will be a boarding school that will provide secondary education for 720 girls and boys when it is completed. Projected cost over a six-year period will be $2.5 million. The first stage is under construction and will be completed in December 2007 and be ready to accept the first 120 students for the first senior 1 class. Cost of the first stage is $500,000. The balance of $2 million needs to be raised.
The Catholic Church in northern Uganda not only brings the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people but also provides 70% of humanitarian needs such as schools, dispensaries, hospitals and wells to provide clean water to the community.
100% of all funds received go directly to Monsignor Matthew for the work of the Church in the Archdiocese of Gulu. All the costs of mailing, printing of the newsletter, accounting, non-profit reporting to Federal and State agencies and Dan and Pete’s travel expenses are paid by the Vaughan and Truax families.