The Pontifical Mission Societies of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois

Father Paul Kala was born in Ghana, but in 2010, he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Shortly after his ordination, he went back to his country of birth to celebrate a thanksgiving Mass with his relatives and friends, and his life, and vocation, were forever changed.

"I encountered a lady who, I estimate, was in her late 80s, sitting for a little boy who had no shoes nor clothing beyond his underwear," Father Paul said. "With only a handful of hairs on his head, tiny arms and legs and a distorted stomach due to malnutrition, he was trying to quelch his hunger by sucking on the clay of a termite mound. Can you imagine, being so hungry as a young boy that you have to eat termites and clay?"

Seeing this, Father Paul knew his life forever changed.

"I asked God to lead my path: How could I, as a Christian, as a priest, help change the world? Was there anything I could do to help solve the worlds perennial problem of hunger, both spiritual and physical? Thus, my missionary journey began," Father Paul said.

For the past six years, Father Paul Kala has been a missionary with the Society of St. Therese of the Little Flower, also known as the Theresian Fathers, whose charism is the evangelization and education of the marginalized in sub-Saharan Africa. The challenges are many, like finding drinkable water for the 120 children from whom he provides a warm meal daily in the youth center. This youth center was inaugurated in 2013, thanks to the unwavering support from those he ministered to in the United States before becoming a missionary, including parishioners at St. Paul Church in Highland, IL. Can you help the Springfield Mission office raise $8,000 to assist with projects like the drilling and construction of a well to give access to water to a community in Africa, like Fr. Paul's community?