Project Description
Monsignor Kelly Fund
Monsignor Kelly, parish priest of St John’s from 1962 – 1988, died in December 2004 and the parishioners wished to remember him and voted to set up The Monsignor Kelly Fund.
The fund supports the missionary work of the LSU Sisters in their work in Tanzania dating back to the 1990s. To this was added the work of Sister Helen Ryder in Haiti, the SJA Sisters’ work in the Gambia followed by Fr Simon Khurshid in Pakistan and finally Fr Pratap Reddy in India. The Third World fund has evolved from it.
The Monsignor Kelly Fund always steps up when asked by our five missionaries to support them in finance and spiritual terms.
Father Simon Khurshid focuses on the education of Christian children from poor families in the Faisalabad Diocese in Pakistan. It has been decided to reopen a boarding school to take in poor children at a cost of $40 per month but daily wages hardly allow the poor to buy bread and butter let alone pay fees of this kind.
Sister Helen LSU at the St. Louis de Montfort parish in Port au Prince, Haiti has been working for over 20 years teaching children and young prisoners, roofing buildings, furnishing sewing machines and providing start-up finance for poor sole traders. She is now raising money to build a Post Primary school on a new site.
Father Pratap Reddy in Ananthapur, India built Our Lady of Lourdes school which opened in 2005. His purpose is “to raise help for the education of poor children” as well as build an extension of the community hall for the poor people’s needs.
Sister Annette LSU Tanzania has taken over responsibility for the Matumaini Disability Centre to which 900 children (450 twice per week) come for exercises and nourishing daily porridge. Matumaini means High Hopes. She is ably assisted by Sisters Fides and Benedicta and this Children’s Centre was originally managed by Sr Adriana since 1990.
Sister Fidelma Maguire’s work with the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy in Gambia gained our support 12 years ago. Our donation to finance renovations at the St Albert’s Nursery School in Basse, The Gambia covered new flooring, roofing, toilet facilities and tables and benches for their three classes of 149 children.
Our parish representative Richard Griffiths can be contacted through the parish office