Dear Friends in Christ, Every year the season of Lent calls us on a journey of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to come closer to Jesus, the Son of God who shared and redeemed our vulnerable humanity. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites us to participate in the Lenten journey through the Catholic Relief Services-CRS […]
Talk story: Consecration to the Immaculate Heart
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY “Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The ‘Fiat’ that arose […]
Talk story: In Christ we are never alone
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY “In the present situation in which we find ourselves living more or less isolated, we are invited to rediscover and deepen the value of the communion that unites all the members of the church … united in Christ we are never alone.” (Pope Francis, Lenten homily in the chapel of the […]
Almsgiving asks for a generosity beyond dollar signs
By Stephanie Clary Catholic News Service A traditional way to approach the Lenten practice of almsgiving is to give from the excess that you create by fasting. For example, according to Catholic Relief Services, you save approximately $3 per person, per meal, when you abstain from serving meat. By that estimate, eating meat-free on every […]
Talk story: Three lives made better thanks to Catholic Relief Services
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY Home is often our place of comfort and safety — something we take care of, where we sleep, eat, and spend time with our family. (CRS Lenten Rice Bowl 2020) Food, water and safe shelter are the basic necessities of any home. Lent provides a time to reflect on the essentials […]
Bishop Larry Silva: Lenten solidarity with the poor
WITNESS TO JESUS | CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES’ RICE BOWL Dear Friends in Christ, Peace be with you! God invites us to reach out beyond ourselves and encounter God in the experience of sharing with other vulnerable persons. This Lent, CRS Rice Bowl — Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten faith-in-action program — reminds us that the journey […]
CRS remembers four employees who died in Ethiopian plane crash
By Paul McMullen Catholic News Service BALTIMORE — Approximately 480 men and women work at the Baltimore headquarters of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas aid and development agency of U.S. Catholics. None were more affected than Yishak “Isaac” Affin and Atli Moges by the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash that took the lives of all […]
Talk story: Carrying the cross of hunger
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY “More people die on the cross of hunger than from any disease. Pope Francis calls on us to address this global tragedy.” (Stations of the Cross, CRS Rice Bowl 2018) Our 2018 Rice Bowl Lenten journey took us through the Stations of the Cross — following Jesus as he carried his […]
Talk story: Connecting with the Good Samaritan
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY “The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of today’s humanity. People’s paths are riddled with suffering, as everything is centered around money and things, instead of people.” (Pope Francis, from his TED2017 (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk, delivered April 25 at the Vatican.) The Story of the Good Samaritan, […]
Bishop Larry Silva: Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl
CRS RICE BOWL Dear Friends in Christ, Jesus called us to love our neighbor. But, like the scholar in the Scripture passage, we may also find ourselves asking, “Who is my neighbor?” This Lent, the U.S. Bishops’ Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl program will help us answer that question. CRS Rice Bowl is not […]
