Sunday school for the children of a very large parish
The Holy Spirit parish, based in Sangla Hill, is the largest parish in the Archdiocese of Lahore. It includes a total of 67 villages, many of them far from the parish centre. This is why Father Akmal Patras was determined to give Catholic children living further away the opportunity to take part in catechetical and Bible study sessions.
The generosity of our benefactors and donations totalling $15,870 allowed a Sunday school program to be established in five of the villages. All in all, some 250 children, aged between 7 and 15, can now learn the Scriptures and grow in their Catholic Faith.
Theoretical religious freedom
This project was of crucial importance since in theory, Father Akmal explains, Pakistan state schools offer a choice between Islamic religious instruction and a study of general ethics, however in practice, offer next to nothing in the way of such ethics. Christian children are therefore required to follow the Islamic religious instruction in order to obtain the points needed to be able to advance to the next level.
In any case, even if ethics were offered as an alternative subject, this would not address the needs of the Catholic pupils, as it would not help them learn more about their Catholic faith. Many Christian pupils and members of other minorities are also regularly subjected to prejudice and hatred on the part of their teachers and fellow pupils due to misinformation being spread about religious minorities through Pakistani school textbooks.
“Many of the Christian children feel inferior, intimidated, and end up abandoning school,” Father Akmal explains. And so it helps the Christian pupils to grow in self-confidence if they know their faith well and can respond effectively to the prejudices and provocative questions they face.
Nearly all the parents of the Christian students are illiterate, which presents an additional challenge in the transmission of faith to their children. Consequently, these Sunday schools are vital in helping to strengthen their faith and Christian identity.
Our heartfelt thanks to all who made this possible. May God bless you!
