As Family Fast Day approaches on Friday 3 October 2025, the Catholic community is being invited to stand together in hope and solidarity with some of the most vulnerable people in our world.
Through CAFOD, the Church continues to bring vital support to communities living amid conflict, displacement, and climate challenges.
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In the Holy Land, CAFOD’s partner Caritas Jerusalem is running mobile medical points across Gaza, providing urgent healthcare in unimaginably difficult conditions. Other partners are helping displaced families with food, shelter, and emergency cash, despite severe shortages of nutrition and safe spaces.
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In Sudan, Church partners are supporting community kitchens where displaced people share what little they have, ensuring no one is left without food.
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In Ukraine, despite a surge in attacks, Caritas and DePaul Ukraine continue to provide food, fuel, hot meals, medical support, and hygiene kits to women, children, older people, and those with special needs.
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In Afghanistan, following the recent earthquake, CAFOD has released £50,000 for food, shelter, and vital supplies. This swift action is possible only because of the income raised through Family Fast Days and parish donations.
This Harvest Fast Day also highlights the often-hidden struggles of Ethiopia, where droughts caused by climate change are making life increasingly harsh. Waré, a young mother in Borana, shared how she once walked six hours each day to fetch water for her family: “It was very traumatising. When I was pregnant, I had to fetch water in the mountains.”
Thanks to donations, new water tanks now bring relief and restore dignity to Waré’s community, showing how the Catholic community’s generosity enables both urgent aid and long-term transformation.
CAFOD has worked in Ethiopia for nearly 40 years and recently welcomed Bishop Paul Swarbrick’s visit and reflections in The Tablet, where he urged the Church to “stand in solidarity with its people, acknowledging their struggles and amplifying their voices.”
Collections and fundraising for CAFOD’s Family Fast Day Appeal in parishes and schools across the Diocese will help build more water tanks in remote Ethiopian communities and allow CAFOD to respond flexibly to emergencies worldwide.
