When Blessed Pauline Jaricot founded the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1822, her vision was simple and bold: to unite the baptized in prayer, sacrifice, and support for mission lands where the Church is young, vulnerable, or resource-poor. Two centuries later, that mission continues in places like Karamoja, Uganda — a region where the Gospel still advances amid severe poverty, climate extremes, and social instability.
In 2024 alone, the Propagation of the Faith, through its network of donors and National Offices, supported the building of 570 churches worldwide (across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania). Though many of those projects remain unseen, their fruit is real: they become places where communities pray, gather, heal, and grow in faith.
One such project now rising from the red earth of northeastern Uganda is the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Nawanatao, in the Diocese of Moroto. Under the leadership of Father Jakoslav Banic, a Croatian missionary assigned to Karamoja, this new parish is poised to become a beacon of faith and hope in one of Africa’s poorest regions.
Karamoja, a vast semi-arid plateau in northeastern Uganda, covers roughly 27,500 km² and is home to multiple districts including Moroto. It is dominated by savannah grasslands and suffers from inconsistent rainfall, prolonged dry seasons, and water scarcity. Livestock pastoralism remains the primary livelihood, supplemented by marginal crop cultivation where the soil and climate permit.
Yet Karamoja is also among Uganda’s poorest and most underdeveloped regions. Decades of conflict, cattle raids, and instability have left deep scars. Many young people live on less than $2 a day, while unemployment, limited educational access, and past conflict pose ongoing challenges. In many of the villages served by Father Banic’s mission, huts are built from straw and earth, children and adults often sleep on the bare floor, and medical and educational resources are minimal.
Amid these harsh conditions, the presence of the Church carries both spiritual and material meaning. It offers a place of refuge, learning, community, and dignity in a land where social structures are fragile and hope is scarce.
Father Banic and his team have purchased 15 hectares of land in Nawanatao for the development of a full mission campus: the church, residences for priests and volunteers, a pastoral center, nursery, schools, a dispensary, and even an agricultural farm. The 650,000-dollar project centers on the parish church as the heartbeat of this vision.
Once completed, the Church of Our Lady of Fatima will serve more than 35,000 Catholics across 37 village communities. It will host catechetical instruction, sacramental life, retreats, youth programs, pastoral training, and evangelization efforts. In a place where villagers often ask, “When will we finally have a church?” the new building represents not just a structure, but a long-awaited sign of permanence, dignity, and belonging.
Father Banic writes:
“Nawanatao is the Ugandan Nazareth. Just as in Jesus’ time Nazareth was a village of only a few hundred souls … today, here near Moroto, people live in fragile and modest huts … in very poor conditions. The Church is their sign of true security.”
He continues:
“In our mission, more than 70% of the population lives below the poverty line … 20% of children die before age five; only 15% go to school; 48% eat one meal a day (or less).”
These stark statistics underscore the urgency of the project and the real human lives behind every brick and beam.
For the people of Karamoja, this church is more than a building. It is a tangible sign that they are seen, loved, and supported by the universal Church. It becomes a locus from which faith will radiate outward: to children, families, catechists, and future generations.
Through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, your generosity becomes intimately connected to these lives. Your prayers, your sacrifice, your gift — through that chain — enable the Church to grow where it is weakest, bring sacramental life where it is absent, and build institutions that last.
If you would like to help complete the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Nawanatao, you can make a gift at https://pontificalmissions.org/ways-to-give/choose-your-project. May the work we begin together in Uganda bear abundant fruit, to the glory of God and the evangelization of hearts.
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