Many African Christians living in Augsburg are baptized Catholics. However, due to some peculiar difficulties  arising from, (a) the cultural differences between the way liturgy is celebrated here in Germany and in their native countries, (b) the often very limited opportunities to become actively involved in their parishes of residence (here in Augsburg). (c) Since German is not their mother-tongue, there is also the problem of language barrier. As a result of these difficulties, many African Catholics are moving towards other Christian religious groups where they hope to enjoy better identification and feel at home. Others simply withdraw and prefer to stay away from church activities. How can the diocese of Augsburg help in resolving this difficult religious situation?

It is for this reason that the Catholic Diocese of Augsburg established officially in September 2014 a community/chaplaincy for the catholic Christians from Africa. The Catholic African Community Augsburg wishes to be a solution to the aforementioned situation. This community offers the Africans and all who love their style and manner of prayer and worship the opportunity to celebrate their faith, experience and enjoy a strong Christian community. „It is a community where they come as they are, express themselves freely in the language, culture and manner they understand and then sing and praise God as they have always done!”
We want to build a strong Christian community where:

• people could pray and celebrate  the mass and other sacraments in the language, culture and manner they understand and enjoy.
• one has an easy access to the sacraments (baptism, confession, holy Eucharist, confirmation, wedding and anointing of the sick)
• we can request requiem masses for our deceased family members, friends and relations at home.

Our obligations as a Catholic African Community could be summarized as follows:

Pastoral Services
We celebrate Mass on Sundays, holy days of obligations and on special occasions in Augsburg and environs and we prepare people for the reception of the sacraments – Baptism, Marriage, Confession etc. We visit the families and pray with them in their homes. The African community has also prayer group and bible study group and offers opportunity for catechism.

Social Services
The Catholic African Community in co-operation with the ecumenical initiative „Treffpunkt Thaddäus” helps and supports the needy families, children and single mothers. We are also in contact with experts and experienced groups in the area of Migration and integration.

Cultural and international services
We support the activities of the various African groups through the provision of hall for celebrations and meetings. We organize different courses with cultural background e.g. cooking, dancing and history classes and we participate also at the international socio-cultural events of the state, the diocese of Augsburg and the parishes.