OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.” (Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’: Caring for Our Common Home”)
In this Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis is calling us all to strengthen the conviction that we are truly one ohana. This Lent, the U.S. bishops are urging our nation’s Catholics to participate in Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten Rice Bowl — a wonderful opportunity to deepen our experience as one ohana by connecting with our brothers and sisters in need around the world.
As Bishop Larry Silva says in his letter to the diocese (See page 2), “CRS Rice Bowl provides resources to deepen the Lenten spirituality of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in our families, parishes and school communities … Rice Bowl can help us do the penance we are called to do in Lent, doing what is difficult and beyond our comfort so that others can benefit from our works of mercy.”
Rice Bowl can deepen the family experience of Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving through resources available at your fingertips on home computers, mobile devices and smart-phones. (Younger family members are often best at navigating modern technology!) The Rice Bowl mobile app, for example, provides a built-in calculator that shows how passing up a fast-food lunch or a cup of Starbucks can provide emergency medical care for a whole family in some parts of the world.
In the past, Rice Bowl collected money in cardboard boxes to send to places we’d never visit for people we’d never know. Today, Rice Bowl’s digital media can connect your family with families in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, to learn directly their struggles. Rice Bowl 2016 can transport your family to Colombia, Honduras, Laos, Madagascar and Rwanda through vivid videos and creative activities, sharing inspiring stories of hope around the globe.
It is also important to remember that one fourth of the Rice Bowl collection in Hawaii goes to supporting local “One Ohana: Food and Housing For All” projects throughout the islands, such as parish and community gardens growing fresh produce for food pantries and programs that feed hungry and homeless families.
This Lent, diocesan departments are making a special effort to collaborate more closely on Rice Bowl so that our parishes, schools and families can join in a collective effort with the other 79 million U.S. Catholics called to reach out to our billions of brothers and sisters living on this planet.
We join Pope Francis and Bishop Larry in urging all to participate in the Lenten Rice Bowl to deepen our experience as one global ohana, one Body of Christ, and witness to Jesus by helping the most vulnerable create lasting positive change. Please go to www.crsricebowl.org and www.catholichawaii.org or download the app to find ways you can help “strengthen the conviction we are one single human family” caring for each other and our common home. Mahalo!
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
