Here is a column provided to Catholic News Service about the U.S. Catholic Church’s Catholic Relief Services Collection taken up in many dioceses on the weekend of March 26-27. It was written by Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on National Collections.
When we learn about the many ways that we can reveal Christ’s love and mercy to people in need, whether in our own neighborhoods or overseas, our immediate response should be prayer. Our next response should be action.
The upcoming Catholic Relief Services Collection delivers action through emergency aid to people in lands affected by disasters or war, assistance to migrants and refugees who are trying to adapt to the laws and life in the United States, pastoral ministries to those with specific cultural or occupational needs, as well as advocacy and education rooted in Catholic teaching to help suffering people build new lives and livelihoods.
Pope Francis calls this kind of action “organizing hope.”
“This is what is asked of us: to be, amid the ruins of the everyday world, tireless builders of hope; to be light as the sun grows dark, to be loving witnesses of compassion amid widespread disinterest,” the Holy Father said in his homily on the 2021 World Day for the Poor.
“Unless our hope translates into decisions and concrete gestures of concern, justice, solidarity and care for our common home, the sufferings of the poor will not be relieved, the economy of waste that forces them to live on the margins will not be converted, their expectations will not blossom anew. We Christians, in particular, have to organize hope.”
The Catholic Relief Services Collection reveals Christ’s love and organizes hope in the United States and worldwide through the generosity of the Catholic people of the United States. It aids six Church organizations that protect human life and promote human dignity:
— Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for international relief and development.
— The Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) for legal aid to immigrants pursuing paths to residency and citizenship.
— The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Migration and Refugee Services for refugee resettlement.
— The USCCB Secretariat on Cultural Diversity in the Church for pastoral care of migrants, refugees, travelers, and Asian and Pacific Islanders.
— The USCCB Department of Justice, Peace & Human Development’s (JPHD) Committee on International Justice and Peace for advocacy on behalf of the powerless, and for JPHD’s education and outreach efforts to share Catholic social teaching and engage with diocesan and other Catholic leaders.
— The Holy Father’s Relief Fund through which the pope assists suffering people worldwide.
Many dioceses take up this special collection in their parishes on the weekend of March 26-27. #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the collection. Your gift to this collection delivers real help and comfort to people worldwide. Joined with that of Catholics across the United States, it also educates the faithful about how to be “organizers of hope.”
Of more than $8 million distributed from the collection in 2020, about three quarters supported overseas disaster relief, international development, and assistance to migrants and refugees; nearly 25% went to education, advocacy and pastoral care; and less than 3% went toward program oversight and promoting the collection. This makes it one of the most efficient and effective channels you could possibly choose for your gifts.
The Catholic Church is living the Gospel worldwide. We have boots on the ground amid headline-grabbing disasters and in the hidden places where millions of our neighbors are in crises that never make the news.
— In Guatemala, where a fungus has devastated coffee growers, CRS is helping family farmers learn techniques to protect and enrich their soil. Participants later report their best crops ever.
— Among those whom USCCB Migration and Refugee Services assists are people who flee war, famine, and religious persecution on the other wide of the world, as well as seafarers docked in U.S. ports and victims of human trafficking. The pandemic added new challenges to this ministry.
— CLINIC partners with community groups nationwide to help legal immigrants to the United States become U.S. citizens. Among those CLINIC assists are Catholic priests from other nations who face formidable immigration hurdles when they seek to serve parishes and outreach ministries in the United States.
The gifts of Catholic parishioners to the Catholic Relief Services Collection accomplish extraordinary good around the world and within our church. They truly fulfill Pope Francis’ call for Catholics to “organize hope.” Please give generously when that basket is passed in your parish or through your parish’s e-offertory system.
To learn more about how the Catholic Relief Services Collection makes a difference visit https://www.usccb.org/catholic-relief.