“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). Next weekend, we will join with all parishes throughout the country in taking up the annual collection for Catholic Relief Services. Founded 76 years ago, it now serves 136 million people in 110 countries on five continents. As so many impoverished people around the world struggle in the face of the coronavirus that just adds another layer of dire need to their already difficult lives, CRS is helping in a wide variety of ways. For example, in Burkino Faso, where school closures have led to hunger and malnutrition for thousands of children, CRS is distributing take-home rations to students in more than 850 schools across the country. In Ethiopia, CRS is working with the local government to provide medical tents to more than 100 Catholic health facilities around the country; these support more than 300,000 desperately poor people. And, in Indonesia, families across the country have been give hygiene kits. CRS has also installed portable hand-washing stations in several villages to help the villagers to avoid COVID-19.
The mission of CRS is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people, working in the spirit of Catholic social teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. Although its mission is rooted in the Catholic faith, its operations serve people based solely on need, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity. It provides much-needed assistance worldwide to millions of people in desperate situations. As we read in the newspapers or hear on the news, natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and droughts) and man-made calamities (oppressive governments, war, persecution, drugs and human trafficking) put millions of people at great risk and in need of our care. The coronavirus pandemic increases their risk and we are called to respond in the name of our Lord.
In the United States, CRS focuses on a single mission: to help Catholics here at home put their faith into action and to live their faith in solidarity with the poor and suffering people of the world. The Gospel calls us to care for one another as brothers and sisters, to live as one human family. As the official international agency of the Catholic Church in the United States, CRS has a special role to play in helping those in need overseas. CRS works with the local Church and partners to create a world in which people stand in solidarity. Important relief and development work is accomplished through emergency response, education, health and agriculture programs, etc. CRS invites you to respond to the call for action by learning about the issues that keep our brothers and sisters overseas in poverty. It also invites you to pray for them and to speak for those whose voices are not heard. CRS invites all of us to get involved in the Church’s work to care for our neighbors around the world. Just as you support CRS to help the poorest and most vulnerable overseas improve their lives, CRS works with you to help build a world free from the devastating effects of poverty, war and injustice.
As we hear Pope Francis remind us that “God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that he himself ‘became poor’” (Misericordiae Vultus, §197), let us unite ourselves with Catholic Relief Services in reaching out to care for the poor around the world. I am confident that you will, once again, be generous in this important collection and that God will bless you for your generosity.