Dear friends and partners of BLI,

I have been thinking about you over the Thanksgiving weekend. As I reflect on where we are at BLI, my heart is filled with gratitude: gratitude for all that has been realized this year and for your prayers, friendship, and generous support that has made it possible. The highlights we celebrate for this year include:

• Welcoming 20 trainees in our 4th cohort of the Caretaker formation program;
• Commissioning our 2nd cohort of Caretakers;
• Launching the pastoral formation program, rooted in Laudato Si', with 38 seminarians from two dioceses, who spent a month at BLI in June;
• A series of events, workshops and other training opportunities;
• New partnerships;
• The development of a new five-year strategic plan (2025-2029); and
• A successful “Indaba” gathering in Chicago last month and so much more...

As we look ahead to next year and the future, we realize there is still much more to do. But we move ahead with a sense of hope and of joy, knowing that God who has brought us this far will lead us into the future into which BLI is called. We are also encouraged by the knowledge that we are walking the journey together. We are thus grateful for your continued support, and we kindly ask that you consider an end-of-year gift to enable us to begin 2025 with good momentum.

With gratitude and continued prayers, and with wishes for a blessed Advent season.

Fr. Emmanuel Katongole