SPECIAL SECOND COLLECTION: APRIL 5-6
Each year, in preparing for Lent, we reach out as a community to one particular place of suffering, amid so many in the world, through our Collaborative Lenten Gift. This year, the Service Commission has chosen BUILD THE FAITH, a non-profit organization that builds churches in areas of economic distress around the world, as our Lenten Gift recipient.
BUILD THE FAITH has a special connection with our Collaborative, as it was inspired by the unwavering faith in God exhibited by Christina Dangond Lacouture, a young girl from our parish who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at the tender age of 6.
Our gift will support their current project: a church for a community in Bamenda, Cameroon where Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley both served as pastor. This thriving, faith filled community currently celebrates the sacraments in a converted chicken coop that can only hold about half the congregation. Our gift will help BUILD THE FAITH turn the dream of a proper church where the community can worship together into a reality.

The total cost for the church structure in Bamenda is around $180,000. The project began last summer, and the community has been hard at work clearing the land and building the foundation using the initial funds from BUILD THE FAITH. They have reached the halfway point in construction, and BUILD THE FAITH is working to raise the remaining $100,000.
Our Lenten Gift, through your generosity, will help BUILD THE FAITH make this dream a reality for the people of the Saint-John Paul II community in Bamenda. $100,000 is an unprecedented goal for our Lenten Gift Collection, but we are inspired by Christina’s faith and profound trust in Jesus.
We too are confident that God is calling us to respond to Lent’s clarion call to love extravagantly. We have each experienced the grace of the ministerial presence of Fr. Lesley and Fr. Gabriel. In a time when so much can seem out of our control, we know that God is faithful. Giving back, in such a tangible way, will bring Christ to our sisters and brothers in faith across the globe.
On behalf of the Collaborative Service Commission, we ask that you prayerfully consider being as generous as your means will allow.
Cash or checks (made payable to your parish with “2025 Lenten Gift” in the memo) may be placed in the special Second Collection on the weekend of April 5-6. Checks may also be mailed/dropped at either parish office.
Donations may be made online at any time using the links below:
THE STORY
Part 1: About Build the Faith
BUILD THE FAITH was inspired by the unwavering faith in God exhibited by Christina Dangond Lacouture, a young St. John parishioner who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in December 2012, at the tender age of 6.

Throughout her arduous battle against cancer, Christina provided a remarkable testament to strength, courage, and faith. She demonstrated that it is possible to navigate life’s most challenging circumstances with a radiant smile and profound trust in Jesus, consistently proclaiming, “Jesus, I trust in you.”




In the months and years after her diagnosis, Christina and her parents, Monica Lacouture and Fernando Dangond, members of our Collaborative, began to organize rosary groups and retreats. The family also heard of a proposed Catholic church in their home country of Colombia that was to be built in an area stricken with poverty and in need of funding. They held fundraisers and collected donations, and together made rosaries to sell for the cause.
In 2016, they founded BUILD THE FAITH as a non-profit to “help build the Catholic faith around the world.”
In 2017, Christina and her family flew to Colombia to present the church with a check for $20,000, and in February of 2018, a month after Christina died, Monica flew back to Colombia to present the church with another check, this time for $25,000.
We encourage everyone to take a few minutes to watch the video below, which tells the story of Christina’s life and her amazing faith, the fruit from which continues to blossom around the world through BUILD THE FAITH.
Since 2017, BUILD THE FAITH has completed projects in Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Ghana, Mexico, and El Salvador.

Their current project, in Bamenda, Cameroon, has a special connection to our Collaborative – it is the community where both Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley served as pastor before coming to live with us in Wellesley while furthering their studies at Boston College.
Despite lacking a proper church building, the community remains vibrant and actively engaged in their faith, gathering for the sacraments in a small structure that was previously used as a chicken coop. Unfortunately this structure can only hold part of the growing congregation, forcing more than half to remain outside during Mass.
In Part 2, we will tell you more about Cameroon and the numerous crises that threaten its social fabric, and how the Catholic Church serves as one of the few beacons of hope for people enduring years of violence and instability.

Part 2: The Crisis in Cameroon and the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Bamenda
Cameroon, located in Central Africa, has a population of over 27 million people, and is home to many different ethnic groups. Christianity is the dominant religion in Cameroon (about two-thirds of the population), with Roman Catholics making up more than half of the Christian population.

Cameroon faces numerous crises which are rooted in the country’s colonial history. The area was a German colony in the late 19th century, but the territory was divided into British and French regions after World War I.
The regions were united in an independent Cameroon in 1961, but tensions remained strong between the two English-speaking (“Anglophone”) regions, Southwest and Northwest, and the majority French-speaking regions.
The separatist crisis began in 2016 when lawyers and teachers in the English-speaking regions protested against the marginalization by the predominantly French-speaking government. The protests were forcefully suppressed by Cameroonian authorities, and the situation escalated into a full-blown conflict, with armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions seeking independence for a new state called Ambazonia.
The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 6,000 people, the displacement of over a million, the destruction of property, and the disruption of social, educational, religious, and healthcare systems

The Catholic Church serves as one of the few beacons of hope for people enduring ongoing instability, with schools closed for years at a time and travel often difficult if not impossible.
Despite these hardships, the Church in Cameroon is vibrant and growing, particularly in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, in the Northwest region. There are more than 620,000 Catholics in the Archdiocese, out of a total population of almost 1.5 million inhabitants.
The Archbishop of Bamenda, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, explained during a Vatican press conference in October 2018:
“My churches are all bursting, and I don’t have space to keep the young people. And my shortest Mass would be about two and a half hours.”
-Archbishop Nkea
Many of you will remember Archbishop Nkea – he has stayed with us while visiting his scholar priests studying in the U.S and has celebrated Masses at St. Paul Church.


Against this backdrop is BUILD THE FAITH’S new project in Bamenda, which is in the community where both Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley served as pastor before coming to the U.S. to further their studies.

Both Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley have spoken about the critical need for physical spaces to worship and to serve as centers of community for these flourishing faith communities in unstable areas.
In Part 3, we will tell you more about this particular community and the connections between the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative in Wellesley, the St. John-Paul II Community in Bamenda, and BUILD THE FAITH.
Part 3: The Connections and the Miracles
At our Lenten Gift Lecture earlier this month, Monica Lacouture and Fernando Dangond shared the story of BUILD THE FAITH, which was inspired by the unwavering faith in God exhibited by their daughter, Christina Dangond Lacouture, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at the tender age of 6. We learned about the tremendous impact of Christina’s faith, and how it continues to bear fruit around the world, through church-building projects like the one we are supporting in Bamenda, Cameroon through our Lenten Gift.
Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley then spoke about the Catholic Church in Cameroon and what every day life is like in the midst of the ongoing crisis.

Fr. Lesley set the stage, describing how the Church has been structured in Cameroon, from the large Archdioceses down to the “small Christian communities” to the individual – what they call their “pastoral plan.” Over the past 9 years, with the turmoil and bloodshed of the crisis, churches have been burned, Christians have been lost, and the pastoral plan could no longer function. He explained that, since the crisis exploded in 2016, the Catholic Church has been the only real sign of hope to people who have been close to giving up. He described the difficulties faced by priests who must travel long, dangerous distances to bring the sacraments to far-flung communities who don’t even have church buildings.
Fr. Gabriel told us about the small community of faith where they both served as pastor. He described the daily difficulties of people just trying to live their lives, struggling to find work, educate their children, and practice their faith. And then he shared the story of what he said can only be described as a miracle.
When Fr. Gabriel arrived in the St. John-Paul II community in Bamenda, the people had no place to worship together and were hanging on by a thread. He told himself, “We must have a church here.”
The people asked him, “Father, how can we have a church here? We have no land, we have nothing.”
Fr. Gabriel answered, “We just pray. God will show us a way.”
He told them to look for anything – any building, any place someone offers to start their church. A family came to him and said, “Father, we have a piece of land, and a chicken coop…”

So they cleared out the chickens, cleaned up the building, and started their church. Even this seemed like a small miracle, despite the fact that half of the large and growing congregation had to remain outside during Mass.


They continued to dream of and pray for the proper church they would build someday, even if it took 30, 40, or 50 years, where the whole community – more than 500 people and growing rapidly – would be able to worship in together.

When Fr. Gabriel told them that his bishop was sending him to the United States to further his education at Boston College, it felt like their dream would never become a reality. The people asked him, “What are we going to do?”
Once again, Fr. Gabriel told them, “Just pray.”
About two weeks after his arrival at the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative in the late summer of 2023, Fr. Gabriel found himself chatting with a few parishioners after daily Mass. One of them mentioned that they were involved with an organization called “BUILD THE FAITH.” When asked what the organization did, she replied, “We make rosaries and we build churches for communities in need.”
At first he thought to himself, “How can they make simple rosaries and have enough income to build a church?
And then he thought, “Speak out! Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, ask and you will receive. OK, let me ask!”
Over the following months, Fr. Gabriel had several conversations with Monica and Fernando of BUILD THE FAITH, describing the St. John-Paul II community in Bamenda and their dream of a church. They encouraged him to submit a proposal. He spoke with his bishop about the miracle that was in process, asking that he and the community keep praying!
After some time, Monica called to say that the committee had met and the proposal was approved – a new church, with a capacity of around 800, would be built for the St. John-Paul II community in Bamenda. Their dream of building a proper church in perhaps 30-50 years could now be a reality in a matter of just a few years – a miracle!
Since 2017, BUILD THE FAITH has completed projects in Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Ghana, Mexico, and El Salvador. They do one project at a time, raising the funds needed to complete the work through rosary sales and other fundraiser, modeling Christina’s profound faith and her constant prayer, “Jesus, I trust in you.”



The total cost for the church structure in Bamenda is around $180,000. The project began last summer, and the community has been hard at work clearing the land and building the foundation using the initial funds from BUILD THE FAITH.
They have reached the halfway point in construction, and BUILD THE FAITH is working to raise the remaining $100,000.

Our Lenten Gift, through your generosity, will help BUILD THE FAITH make this dream a reality for the people of the Saint-John Paul II community in Bamenda. $100,000 is an unprecedented goal for our Lenten Gift Collection, but we are inspired by Christina’s faith and profound trust in Jesus. We too are confident that God is calling us to respond to Lent’s clarion call to love extravagantly. We have each experienced the grace of the ministerial presence of Fr. Lesley and Fr. Gabriel.
In a time when so much can seem out of our control, we know that God is faithful. Giving back, in such a tangible way, will bring Christ to our sisters and brothers in faith across the globe.
On behalf of the Collaborative Service Commission, we ask that you prayerfully consider being as generous as your means will allow.