Dear Friends in Christ,
Peace be with you!
Lent is a time to deepen our encounter with God, who became fully vulnerable in Christ to redeem us. For 42 years, U.S. Bishops have called all to participate in the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Lenten Rice Bowl to encounter Christ with vulnerable persons around the world struggling to secure the tools they need to rise above poverty and provide for themselves—and their communities.
Since 1975, CRS Rice Bowl has raised more than $250 million to support programs that help prevent hunger worldwide. But CRS Rice Bowl is not just about collecting money in a cardboard box. It is literally and symbolically a box full of stories of hope, prayers, and opportunities to help put our faith into action and to share our Lenten journey with each other, transforming all our lives.
CRS Rice Bowl provides resources to deepen our Lenten encounter with God through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in our families, parishes and school communities, while continuing to connect Catholics in our diocese with our brothers and sisters in need around the world. Rice Bowl resources include a Lenten calendar and a free mobile app that offers daily reflections and convenient tools for almsgiving.
This year Rice Bowl features a story of HOPE about how the Chuukese community in Hawaii contributes to our diocesan initiative One Ohana: Food and Housing for All. Also this year for the first time Saints Damien and Marianne of Molokai are included in the list of Rice Bowl’s inspiring Holy Men and Women. For more information visit the CRS website, http://www.crsricebowl.org/stories-of-hope/week-6 and our diocesan Office for Social Ministry website, http://www.officeforsocialministry.org/crs-ricebowl/
Participating in CRS Lenten Rice Bowl is also an excellent way to implement our efforts to focus on the priorities of Family, Faith Formation, Youth and Leadership in our Stewards of the Gospel Diocesan Plan.
I strongly encourage you all to participate in the CRS Lenten Rice Bowl to deepen your encounter with God and to witness to Jesus by helping the vulnerable create lasting positive change. God bless you always!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Larry Silva
Bishop of Honolulu