Our Final Chicago Archdiocese Mission Appeal for 2026: St. Paul the Apostle
This past weekend, Water of Mercy brought its Mission Appeal to St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Gurnee, IL. Our co-founder John Cerwin spoke at all five weekend Masses on August 8 and 9, telling the parish about Father Petros Mwale and the villages of rural Malawi where families still draw their drinking water from muddy holes in the ground. It was our second and final appeal as a selected 2026 Mission Partner of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the response was humbling.
The full-page Water of Mercy announcement that ran in the St. Paul the Apostle weekly bulletin ahead of the Mission Appeal weekend of August 8 and 9, 2026. Click the image to enlarge.
We Almost Ran Out of Envelopes
Each Mission Appeal parish receives a set number of collection envelopes from the Archdiocese. After the first Mass on Saturday evening, it was clear that St. Paul was going to run out of all 500 of them. St. Paul, much like Mary, Mother of Divine Grace and St. John Cantius, is an extremely generous parish, and donations were simply running higher than anyone had planned for.
So we improvised. John and Lori photographed one of the envelopes, made stickers from the image, and spent that night applying them by hand to plain envelopes. There were more than enough ready to go by the time Sunday morning came.
We do not have final collection totals yet. Those reach us later, in a single check from the Archdiocese. But we can tell you what a successful Mission Appeal looks like from the inside, and it looks like two people making envelopes by hand late on a Saturday night because a parish gave more than anyone expected.
With Gratitude to St. Paul the Apostle
The Most Reverend Timothy J. O'Malley, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, presided at the 11:30 a.m. Mass. To have a bishop of the Archdiocese with us as we made our appeal was an unexpected grace, and we are grateful for his encouragement.
Father Andrew Wawrzyn, Pastor of St. Paul the Apostle, opened his parish and all five of its weekend Masses to us. Thank you, Father, for trusting a young mission with your people's attention and their generosity.
Father Martin Szczypula and Father Joe Curtis welcomed us at the altar and made the weekend feel less like a visit and more like a homecoming.
Deacon Mike Penich and Mary Penich looked after us throughout the weekend. Deacon Andy Baker and Deacon Brent Bertke were equally generous with their time and their encouragement.
Tom Wattelet, Youth and Adult Minister, and Joe Perry, Business Manager, handled every logistical question we brought them, and there were many.
Please keep this parish and its clergy in your prayers. They gave us their pulpit for an entire weekend, and they gave the people of rural Malawi something better than that.
What Happens Next
Donations collected by each parish are routed to the Archdiocese and then back to Water of Mercy. When those funds reach us, we will work with Father Petros Mwale in Malawi to select the village or villages most in need.
The drilling and construction of a well typically take three to five days. Scheduling with the boring company, however, usually takes one to two months. Our estimate for a completed well from this appeal is late fall 2026, though the timing depends on when the Archdiocese releases the funds and how the drilling schedule falls.
When the wells funded by each parish are completed, we will send photographs and a written account of the village back to each parish for publication in their respective bulletins, and we plan to make posters so parishioners can see the community their kindness reached. That last part matters to us more than anything else in this process. The people who filled those envelopes deserve to see exactly where their generosity went.
Every dollar goes to the same place: a freshwater well drilled in a rural Malawian village that has never had safe water. One well costs $5,500 and serves an entire community for approximately 75 years. Water of Mercy has now funded 25 village wells across rural Malawi, 22 of them already built and flowing, serving more than 15,279 people, made possible by 199 generous donors from around the world.
Nearly thirty of those donors have joined us since our last post, many of them in the days surrounding this appeal. If you are one of them, thank you. You gave to people you will never meet, in a country most of your neighbors could not find on a map, and it will still be pouring clean water long after all of us are gone.
Communities Are Waiting Right Now
The Mission Appeal funds one well, but the need does not stop at one. Two villages are waiting today, and your gift, in any amount, brings them closer to the finish line.
💧 Help Us Build These Wells
Donate to Mkandawire Village →
Donate to Chirwa Village →
If you missed our first Mission Appeal weekend, you can read about our visit to Mary, Mother of Divine Grace Parish in Westchester here.
Your donation, in any amount, brings us closer to the finish line. If you cannot give today, sharing this post can be just as powerful. 💙
Please keep Father Petros Mwale in your prayers as he continues his dedicated and tireless work serving the people of Malawi. 🙏