By Catholic Relief Services Amina Bukar, a mother of five, is a well-respected leader and small-business owner in Muna Moforo, Nigeria. In her village nutrition group, she teaches mothers how to prepare nutrient-rich porridge for their children to help them grow strong and healthy. This is important because in Nigeria, more than 25 million people […]
Talk story: Sharing Stories of Hope through CRS Rice Bowl
Ash Wednesday marks the start of the annual CRS Rice Bowl, the Lenten program of Catholic Relief Services. CRS is the official relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. CRS Rice Bowl began during preparation for the 1975 World Eucharistic Congress in the United States, when Catholics in Pennsylvania prayed, fasted […]
Bishop Larry Silva: Letter on the CRS Rice Bowl
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 […]
