Author: sjspwellesley

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 that threaten its social fabric, which are rooted in the country’s colonial history…

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, who stayed with us and celebrated Mass at St. Paul Church last year while in the U.S. visiting the scholar priests from his diocese, said, “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.”

Against this backdrop is Build the Faith’s new church project in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, the home diocese of Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley… Both have spoken about the needs of these flourishing faith communities to have physical spaces to worship and to serve as centers of community in these unstable areas…

BUILD THE FAITH was inspired by the unwavering faith in God exhibited by Christina Dangond Lacouture, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in December 2012, at the tender age of 6. 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…