BRIDGEPORT—Watch this Special Report on the recent diocese mission trip to Ethiopia. Diocesan social media leader John Grosso offers an up-close and memorable recap of the journey, which began in Addis, a city of over six million people, and moved to the countryside where Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Turning Wine into Water, a New Canaan based not for profit, built a well and water system that will bring fresh water to 20,000 people.
The trip was led by business and charitable leader Nick Troilo of Darien, founder of Turning Water into Wine, and Msgr. Thomas Powers, vicar general of the diocese.
Msgr. Powers said the country of 80 million people, is challenged by great poverty including the need for clean water and other things we take for granted in Fairfield County.
Grosso said the people of Ethiopia were warm and welcoming and grateful for the work of CRS, the global Catholic relief agency that is welcome in country around the world.
“Our Diocesan trip to Ethiopia was an extraordinary moment of grace—and a life changing moment for all eight representatives from the Diocese of Bridgeport,” said Grosso who shared the video with Catholic Center employees today at a luncheon meeting.
“In Ethiopia, we were taught a beautiful lesson in who exactly are our brothers and sisters. In a rural village on the side of the Continental Divide, we were welcomed as family members and greeted with warm smiles and open arms. There was no suspicion, no hatred, no fear. Nobody felt like a stranger. It felt like greeting family members who had known each other all our lives.”
