Diocesan News

At Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Parish in Brooklyn, Lenten Mission Brings Clean Water and Hope to Ghana

March 9, 2026
By
Father Cletus Forson (left), Msgr. Guy Massie (center), and Don Magnotta enjoy glasses of fresh water — something they’d like people in impoverished nations to be able to do. They have teamed up in the past to raise money to construct water wells in Ghana through International Help for Missionaries, the organization Magnotta founded. Now, the church is raising money to help build a hospital. (Photo: Paula Katinas)

CARROLL GARDENS — In line with the traditional Lenten practice of almsgiving, parishioners at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s Church are raising money to build a children’s cancer hospital in Accra, the capital of Ghana.  

Currently, there is no standalone hospital dedicated to treating children with cancer in Ghana, although there are pediatric cancer units within existing hospitals. 

Even the kids at Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s are getting involved in the fundraising effort, said Msgr. Guy Massie, the pastor. Children in the church’s faith formation program will be given mite boxes, small containers where they can put money each day, over the 40 days of Lent. After Easter, kids will empty their mite boxes, and their money, along with donations from the grownups, will be collected and sent to International Help of Missionaries, a nonprofit organization raising funds for the hospital project. The organization works with on-the-ground groups in Ghana. 

The fundraising effort was inspired by Father Cletus Forson, the parochial vicar for Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s, who is a native of Ghana and has spearheaded several water well fundraising efforts in the past, working with various parishes and schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn. 

“Because Cletus has been here, we have learned a great deal about the needs of the people in Africa,” Msgr. Massie said. “So, Africa, the continent, sits at our dinner table and is very much a part of this parish.” 

After Father Forson told Msgr. Massie and parishioners about the effort to build the hospital, “we decided that that would be our Lenten charity,” Msgr. Massie said. 

Over the past five years, the church has raised money for International Help of Missionaries to help build three water wells in different parts of Ghana.  

The wells cost an average of $6,000 each to build, said Father Forson, who is a trustee of International Help of Missionaries and works closely with the organization’s founder, Don Magnotta, a parishioner of St. Margaret Church in Middle Village. 

The children really got involved in the water well projects, said Msgr. Massie, who added that the Brooklyn kids have even written to their counterparts in Africa and have learned how scarce clean, drinkable water is in parts of the continent. 

The children’s cancer hospital is the fourth project Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen’s is working on with International Help of Missionaries. 

“We’ve all experienced friends and relatives dying of cancer. But if you’ve ever experienced a child dying of cancer, it is really something hard to deal with,” said Magnotta, who said when he heard about the effort to build the hospital in Accra, he knew immediately that he wanted International Help of Missionaries to be part of it. 

To date, International Help of Missionaries has helped build water wells in 130 villages in Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Sudan, and Tanzania.  

The organization, which Magnotta founded in 2008 after being inspired by a homily Father Forson delivered during a visit to St. Margaret’s Church, has also raised money to build schools and orphanages in Africa and has assisted a group of nuns in Ukraine. 

Magnotta estimated that the organization has raised $2 million over the years, all through private donations from individuals. 

Father Forson said the water wells and the children’s cancer hospital are personal because he grew up in Ghana and frequently returns to his native country to check on the various projects International Help of Missionaries has helped fund. 

The hospital in Ghana’s capital city, Accra, which will treat children with cancer, is expected to cost $2 million to build, according to Father Cletus Forson, who said construction began two years ago and has been interrupted from time to time due to money constraints. (Photo: Courtesy of Father Cletus Forson)

As a child, he had to leave his village every day to find clean, drinkable water. Sometimes, it was a two-mile hike to a stream and balancing a 5-gallon jug on his head on the walk back home. But during Ghana’s dry seasons, it involved a 6-mile trek to find an elusive water source. 

“And you had to do that before school. It was quite an ordeal,” he recalled. “And for us, it was very ordinary. We looked at it as normal.”  

The construction of the hospital is moving along, but at a slow pace, Father Forson said. 

While he is pleased by the generosity of his parishioners and the children of his church, Msgr. Massie said they are also getting a lot out of the fundraising projects.  

“When you are helping other people, you think they are benefiting,” he said. “But in the end, I think our children have learned a great deal from these projects.”