Support Life for the Poor and Underprivileged

This last weekend at St. Francis of Assisi, Castle Rock, Sarah Smith, the US Director of Universal Chastity Education, (UCE) appealed to our local parish for support. UCE has been welcomed at St. Francis for several years, and our parish community has generously supported it through a second collection.  

However, this year, there was no second collection taken up for UCE as has been done in past years, unfortunately.

That's why I'm writing this brief post. UCE is a pro-life organization approved by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and other denominations located in the countries where it operates. This is the 15th anniversary of its founding by a couple of doctors--Catholics from Southern Colorado--of this wonderful organization. 
  
Over the last 15 years, UCE has positively affected the physical and spiritual lives of almost a half a million young people in Africa. You read that right--nearly 500,000 young people have signed abstinence cards, committing to chaste lives. This has resulted in lower incidence rates of HIV/AIDS and lower rates of teen pregnancy in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. These young people have been given their lives back through the efforts of UCE, and their commitment to living chastely. 

The organization's mission is to promote, through Christian principles, abstinence and faithful marriage as the healthiest way of life. The goal of UCE is to reach all people with the message of abstinence and faithfulness in marriage while providing them the strength to implement this healthy behavior, working with minimal budgets and some great volunteers. 

My wife, Maggie and I were blessed to visit the Uganda operation some years ago. Having previously served on the board up until this most recent year, I can tell you that the organization and its board, with a handful of paid staff, are all about pro-life Christian principles and living life, in charity, in accord with message of the Gospel. 

Please prayerfully consider donating whatever you can to give UCE a hand. 

Thank you, and may God bless you abundantly!