Welcome
The funds collected through the Catholic Relief Services Collection supports six vital Catholic programs that share in the Church’s mission of promoting the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. They provide hope to people faced with overwhelming circumstances, reminding us that Christ is present in those who suffer—and in those who respond compassionately to their needs.
Catholic Relief Services for international relief and development.
USCCB Migration and Refugee Services for refugee resettlement.
Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) for immigration legal services.
USCCB Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development for advocacy.
Holy Father’s Relief Fund for emergency relief.
USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church for evangelization and ministry.
The following are actual stories illustrating the positive impact that contributions to the Catholic Relief Services Collection are having in people’s lives.
Fighting a Food Crisis, By educating farmers and distributing disease-resistant cassava plants, CRS is helping prevent a food crisis in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
Healthy Households, Thriving Children, CRS works to secure healthy and loving families so mothers and children can thrive.
Advocating for the Marginalized, International Justice and Peace advocates against torture, for peacebuilding in Africa, and on behalf of debt relief for poor countries.
Combating Anti-immigrant Proposals, State & Local Immigration Advocates turn to CLINIC
Helping Poor Around the World in Climate Change Legislation, Catholic organizations focus on impact of climate change on poor and urge greater funding to help poor affected by climate change worldwide.
Victims of the Global Food Crisis, Creating short and long-term responses
Refugees Fleeing Terror, Welcoming refugees home
An Orphan Helping Others in Crisis, Empowering a generation of Africa’s orphans
A Torture Survivor, Affirming human rights here and abroad
Helping the Hungry, Helping a starving village in Ethiopia
Immigrants in Need of Legal Aid, Helping immigrants understand their legal rights
Refugees from Iraq, Creating home in the United States
Advocacy for Employee Rights, Finding just work in Haiti
Data-Sharing on the Go
Accurate, up-to-date data exchange is crucial to help stop the spread of cassava mosaic disease and cassava brown streak disease. Such exchange is also important to monitor and evaluate the success of the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative and address problems as they emerge. But when working with partners and farmers spread across remote regions in six developing countries, sharing data in a timely fashion can be extremely difficult.
A small, ruggedized Intel computer offers hope for faster information exchange. The hand-held 2go PC is a miniature laptop with a 40GB hard drive, a wireless modem, a small but complete keyboard, and Office Professional software, generously donated by Microsoft Corporation.
In a special 18-month pilot project, Catholic Relief Services is partnering with Intel to roll out 250 2go PCs to Great Lakes Cassava Initiative partners and field agents. We are also working with two software companies,
FormRouter and Kimetrica, to develop simple data entry forms that can be processed quickly by a central database once received wirelessly from the field. In addition, CRS is teaming with Agilix to develop training modules field agents can use to educate farmers on such topics as disease identification, plant spacing for maximum yields and basic business skills. The computer’s built-in camera will also let project staff take pictures of cassava fields, including disease symptoms.
Benard Odero, CRS Kenya’s Great Lakes Cassava Initiative manager, shows a ruggedized mini computer being piloted for data collection in the field.
Primary challenges will be ensuring that field agents have periodic access to a power source to recharge batteries and occasional network access to transmit and receive data. Though the pilot is just beginning in the spring of 2009, it has already borne fruit: Project staff have recommended that Intel add a GPS device to future versions of the computer to automatically record locations whenever capturing data.
By educating farmers and distributing disease-resistant cassava plants, CRS is helping prevent a food crisis in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
“Cassava is the crop that can fight poverty in this region,” says Hannington Obiero, head of the cassava program and research officer at the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute in Kakamega, western Kenya.
Back in 1997, such a statement would be hard to believe. Just over a decade ago, a virulent form of cassava mosaic disease crossed the Ugandan border into western Kenya and wiped out just about every cassava field around Lake Victoria. For Americans, this would be like Idaho farmers losing every spud in the ground—and having no protection from losing future potato harvests.
Kenyan families that relied on the root crop as a key staple of their daily diet watched their plants wither
and rot. Farmers in Uganda and Tanzania also saw their fields of cassava succumb to the pandemic, with fields in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo following over the next few years.
The disease destroyed plants, diminishing harvests anywhere from 70 percent to 100 percent. Afraid that new plants would also become infected, farmers abandoned cassava, drastically reducing food security across the region.
Losing a Safety Net
Cassava is the primary food staple of sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for more than half of all calories consumed. Think of it like you would rice in Asia or potatoes in Ireland. Whether it’s a side dish or the main course, in many African villages a meal just isn’t a meal without it.
Families dig up any number of cassava roots, which look like large, white-fleshed sweet potatoes. They then cut them up and dry them, often spreading the chalky chunks out on the hot tarmac at the side of a road. Next they grind the pieces into flour, from which they make a dense, dough like starch dish, often mixed with some sorghum or millet. Some communities also like to cook up the nutritious green leaves.
“Although cassava has a long growing cycle, taking one year or more for roots to mature, it is an inexpensive crop that offers families exceptional food security,” explains Benard Odero. Odero is Catholic Relief Services Kenya’s manager for the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative, a six country project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to stem the spread of cassava diseases across the region.
Cassava offers numerous advantages. The drought-tolerant crop fares well across various agricultural zones, including semiarid regions. It requires little care, can be replanted through cuttings from existing bushes, and produces high yields that can be harvested piecemeal, enabling families to stretch out food availability. In addition, cassava can be sold commercially as a food source and even potentially for its starch content for enterprises like papermaking.
The disappearance of this staple stung families in the Great Lakes region. In Kenya, many farmers turned instead to maize. Although corn grows much more quickly than cassava, it’s a more demanding crop. Fields must be planted from seed each year. Expensive fertilizer is required for high yields, and considerable rain is needed for successful harvests. Corn is very labor-intensive, with women spending endless hours caring for fields. And if rains fail, families are left with little or no buffer.
“Families can withstand emergencies when they have cassava in the ground, as there is always another root to dig up or a plant cutting to sell,” Odero adds. “But when other cash crops fail, families must divert their already minimal resources into buying supplemental food. If things get even worse, they are forced to take children out of school—no longer being able to afford tuition fees—and eventually sell precious assets like goats or cows to survive.”
Reintroducing Healthy Cassava
Fortunately, agricultural researchers have developed improved cassava varieties that are resistant to cassava mosaic disease. Generous donors are also providing critical funding to grow these plants in bulk and get healthy cuttings into the hands of African farmers.
In December 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a $21.8-million grant to Catholic Relief Services and our partners to help more than 1 million farm families protect the food source and income they rely on for survival. Another $500,000 from a private CRS donor provides additional staff support. This assistance is particularly critical in light of the current economic crisis that has made food costs skyrocket across the globe.
“By giving farmers access to diseaseresistant varieties, we are encouraging them to grow cassava once again,” says Michael Potts, director of the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative. “Over time, the project will re-establish healthy fields across the region, resulting in more reliable food supplies and increased income.”
Partnering at All Levels
The Great Lakes Cassava Initiative aims to increase cassava yields and prevent disease spread in Burundi,
Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, building on CRS’ prior cassava disease management work through the U.S. government— funded Crop Crisis Control Project (C3P). In partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, CRS is leading a network of national agricultural research institutions, local partners and farmers to educate communities about cassava mosaic disease and the emerging cassava brown streak disease, disseminate diseaseresistant cassava cuttings, and teach effective disease control measures.
Currently, CRS is working with dozens of partners and hundreds of farmer groups across the six target countries to grow more of the disease-resistant varieties introduced under C3P in special multiplication sites. The project will then provide healthy, disease-resistant stalks cut hygienically from these source plants to more than 1 million households over the four-year project duration.
Farmers are also growing and evaluating 50 new cassava varieties in what are called “participatory variety selection sites” to determine which are best for local conditions. Each farmer plants one acre of three to five improved varieties provided for free from a national research institute, as well as one traditional variety obtained locally. Once these new varieties mature—usually in one year versus two to three years for traditional varieties—groups of farmers involved in the selection process come together to evaluate all of the varieties planted across an area. Comparing notes and examining the plants, they then determine the best varieties to multiply further based on yields, taste, disease resistance, maturity periods and more.
The fact that farmers are willing to invest their time and energy for long periods to evaluate these new varieties demonstrates the exceedingly high value placed on cassava.
“Cassava has a good market, with the first market being the stomach,” explains Mildred Agola, a Kenyan
farmer growing five improved varieties and one local variety of cassava in one of the project’s many participatory variety selection sites.
“Cassava has a good market, with the first being the stomach,” explains Mildred Agola, standing in her field.
Because Mildred helped to multiply disease-resistant plants under the former C3P project, her family now has many roots to eat and materials to sell. “We don’t have many problems because there is food,” she adds.
Grace Karani, another farmer participating in the selection and evaluation process of new varieties, also benefited from growing disease-resistant plants under C3P. “I sold cuttings and ate the roots. Now I will help select the next best variety to [grow in bulk for other farmers], which will also help me far into the future.”
Addressing New Challenges
Unfortunately, some of the new varieties that can ward off cassava mosaic disease are showing susceptibility to a new threat: cassava brown streak disease. Leveraging existing partnerships with national research institutions, the project is supporting additional research to control disease spread. Field agents who coordinate farmers are also collecting critical data on the ground.
To streamline this data collection, as part of a new monitoring and evaluation pilot CRS is rolling out 250 hand-held, ruggedized Intel computers to project field agents (see sidebar). The hope is to collect field data electronically, which can then be sent more quickly over the internet to country offices, overall project staff and other organizations
as required.
The project is also encouraging farmer groups to form savings and lending groups to increase their financial security and opportunities. In addition, farmers are receiving agro-enterprise training and assistance in building links to markets for increased profits.
Already, the project is seeing success, with some regions having returned to their original levels of cassava production.
“Our vision is to have a hunger free community with cassava,” says Alfred Etyiang, chairperson of the Agrofarmers Youth Group in Okatikok village in Kenya. “That has already happened in our households.”
Story and photos by Debbie DeVoe, CRS’ regional information officer in East Africa based in Nairobi. She recently visited farmers and partners in western Kenya participating in the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative. Reprinted from CRS’ OneFamily Magazine
What better symbol of life’s sacredness than the intimate bond between mother and child? But this natural connection — which lays the foundation for our wellbeing — is threatened for so many every day by extreme poverty, disease and war. Catholic Relief Services is committed to empowering communities to promote healthy households so women and children can thrive. Our staff and partners overseas work through a wide variety of projects that reduce the risk of childbirth, keep babies safe, improve access to health care, loosen the shackles of poverty, and give women a voice in their community and their futures.
Our health and community programs all contribute to the betterment of life for vulnerable people. Projects help households meet the needs of children and mothers, but CRS also understands that, ideally, mothers do not rear their children alone. The support of fathers and extended families, schools and communities are all vital to protect and nurture God’s children.
Around the globe, we build the capacity of church and community partners as they develop better ways to detect and treat childhood illnesses and maternal health risks. CRS enables communities to improve their health through simple interventions like promoting breastfeeding; encouraging families to wash hands regularly; and distributing mosquito nets. We also help fathers with their child-rearing skills. Small changes like these, along with improved nutrition, can dramatically increase the number of infants who reach their first birthday and beyond.
CRS has been on a mission for 66 years to help women and children live and grow in healthy, nurturing communities.
Office of International Justice and Peace - USCCB
The Office of International Justice and Peace (IJP) receives a portion of the Catholic Relief Services Collection to support its engagement in public issues of concern to the Church throughout the world, including: global poverty, world hunger, pandemic diseases, international assistance and debt relief for developing countries, human rights, religious freedom, just trade relations, and peacebuilding. IJP’s work is guided by the bishops of the Committee on International Justice and Peace.
Some of the Office’s activities in 2008 included:
- Food Crisis: The world food crisis posed a serious threat of food insecurity and starvation for millions throughout the world, especially in Africa. The Farm Bill, which was authorized for another five years, incorporated some of USCCB’s priorities, such as setting aside $600 million of food aid for development, increasing the amount of aid, and improving replenishment of food stocks after emergencies. In addition, USCCB supported and helped secure $1.245 billion in food aid in the 2008 Emergency Supplemental passed by Congress.
- Peacebuilding in Africa: USCCB expressed the solidarity of the Church in the United States with the Church in several African countries that experienced violent conflict in 2008. IJP hosted multiple visits by bishops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Washington and helped facilitate meeting with U.S. officials on the terrible violence in the eastern region of the country. In the wake of post-election violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe, USCCB sent expressions of solidarity to the Church in those countries and brought the concerns of the Church to the attention of U.S. policymakers. Given the urgent situations, USCCB sent a delegation to visit the Church in Sudan, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
- Peace in the Holy Land: In January 2008, Cardinal Francis George, OMI represented USCCB at meetings in Israel and Palestine of bishops’ conferences in support of the Church in the Holy Land. A major legislative priority of the February 2008 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering was supporting U.S. leadership for peace in the Holy Land. USCCB hosted meetings in Washington, DC, with His Beatitude Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in the summer. With USCCB support and participation, the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI), which brings together major Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, held meetings with State Department officials. Issuing a new statement on Israeli-Palestinian peace in November, NILI called on the President-elect to make peace in the Holy Land a priority.
- HIV/AIDS: The successful reauthorization of President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) in 2008 was a significant achievement of USCCB in partnership with CRS and others. USCCB advocated for the inclusion of morally appropriate policies in the legislation, including: increased funding for AIDS prevention, treatment and care; training of more healthcare workers; expansion of nutrition programs; and incorporation of a strong “conscience clause” and a “balanced funding” requirement for abstinence and behavior change programs. After many Congressional letters and contacts, the legislation passed with strong bipartisan support.
- Debt Relief for Poor Countries: USCCB has been a leading advocate of poor-country debt relief for many years. The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2007 (HR 2634/S 2166), which would extend debt cancellation to virtually all extremely poor countries that have financial management systems to insure that debt relief savings are used to reduce poverty, passed the House during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the U.S. in April 2008. Although the legislation did not pass both chambers, it is expected to be reintroduced in 2009.
- Religious Freedom: IJP works consistently and persistently to defend human rights and religious freedom of persons of all ethnicities and religions. In response to the dramatic rise in violence against Christians in India in 2008, USCCB sent messages of concern to the Church in India and raised issues of religious freedom and human rights with the Department of State. USCCB strongly advocated for humanitarian relief for the over 40,000 Christians who have fled their homes. In November, USCCB signed a coalition letter to President Bush, asking him to pressure the Indian government to protect minorities, including Christians.
- Torture: USCCB worked with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to produce “Torture is A Moral Issue: A Catholic Study Guide” in 2008. Early in the year, USCCB sent letters to President Bush and the Senate, as well as action alerts, endorsing legislation that would expand the prohibition against torture to cover all U.S. government agencies and their agents. The Chairman of the IJP Committee authored an article explaining the Church’s position against torture for Washington Monthly and signed a June 2008 Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order banning torture. IJP continued to advocate for this Executive Order with President-elect Obama, helping to lay the groundwork for the Executive Order banning torture that was signed by President Obama two days after he took office in 2009.
JP shares, applies, and acts upon the Church’s social teaching on international concerns. In many ways and in many international situations, the work of the Office and the Committee gives concrete expression to the teaching and vision summarized in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.
When Father Patrick Delahanty, associate director of the Kentucky Catholic Conference, learned that state legislators had proposed anti-immigration legislation
he turned to the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., (CLINIC) for help.
“We were very concerned about what this proposed legislation would mean for the
immigrant populations in our state. However, with limited experience in immigration law
we were not sure how to advocate against it,” Father Delahanty said. As states began to introduce anti-immigrant proposals in response to Congress’failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, Catholic organizations and immigration advocates across the country searched for tools to use to rally against these far reaching and often harmful measures. In 2007, CLINIC began providing legal analysis, training, and technical assistance to advocates working to combat local anti-immigrant measures. “As anti-immigrant sentiments have risen in recent years, state and local governments have increasingly attempted to regulate immigration themselves,” said CLINIC staff attorney Helen Harnett. “These measures attempt to make it difficult for undocumented immigrants to work, rent homes, and attend school,” said Harnett. “Many of the proposed bills are incredibly broad and unfairly penalize undocumented immigrants and others who interact with them.” For example, proposed legislation in Kentucky would have required local police to enforce federal civil immigration law. It also would have prohibited cities and counties from enacting community-policing initiatives. In addition, it also proposed state-level sanctions for working without authorization. “I thought this legislation would set a dangerous precedent,” said Father Delahanty. “It would stigmatize newcomers and create an ‘us versus them’ mentality.”
Unfortunately, the number of anti-immigrant proposals exploded across state legislatures.
In 2006, more than 500 bills dealing with immigrants were introduced by state legislators. Just one year later, that number had tripled to 1,562. Every single state legislature considered immigration bills during 2007 legislative sessions. As part of CLINIC’s new initiative, Harnett contacted more than 50 organizations to learn more about the issues that each organization faced and the resources that they needed. Organizations like the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops also contacted CLINIC about eight bills that were introduced during that state’s 2008 session. “This was the first time we saw anti-immigrant bills in the state legislature. We needed sound advice on how to handle the complex legal issues raised by the bills,” said Rob Tasman, associate director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Louisiana proposals would have criminalized the harboring and transporting of undocumented immigrants, regulated immigrant employment, prohibited landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants, required police to verify arrestees’ nationality, and prohibited undocumented immigrants from filing medical malpractice claims for injury or death against a medical provider. There was significant concern among social service providers that immigrants would be afraid to contact any service organization for food, shelter, or other assistance. “The bills were written so broadly there was concern that they could have prevented social service organizations from meeting their missions,” Harnett said. Harnett provided the Kentucky and Louisiana advocates with detailed legal analyses that examined both the legal underpinnings of the legislation as well as the legislation’s potential impact were it to be enacted. Armed with CLINIC’s legal analyses and advice, advocates were able to mount credible and compelling arguments against these measures. Subsequently, Kentucky’s bill was defeated in committee and in Louisiana all eight bills were defeated. “CLINIC’s help was invaluable,” said Tasman. “We couldn’t have had that success without the resources they provided.” During the past year, Harnett analyzed more than 26 anti-immigrant measures from 14 different states, produced helpful resources explaining the constitutional issues raised by such laws, spoke on panels, led workshops, and authored a law review article. CLINIC continues to expand its advocacy efforts related to anti-immigrant legislation. In preparation for the 2009 state legislative sessions, Harnett has distributed model pro-immigrant legislation to state and local immigration groups and continues to monitor trends in state legislatures for possible anti-immigration legislation. “It is important that immigration advocates remain vigilant. While much of the anti-immigrant legislation proposed in 2008 was defeated, we need to change the conversation and offer elected officials
New Religious Worker Regulations Challenge Dioceses & Religious Orders
New regulations from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have created challenges for dioceses and religious communities that depend on foreign-born religious workers. CLINIC is advocating for better interpretation of the new rules which are creating delays and posing a hardship for religious workers who arrive in the United States.
CLINIC’s Center for Religious Immigration and Protection is the premier legal source for immigration services for Catholic dioceses and religious communities that bring in foreignborn priests and other religious workers to the United States. CLINIC advocated for improvements in the proposed regulations pending before the USCIS for more than two years. When USCIS issued the new regulations in November, CLINIC staff analyzed the regulations, met with USCIS to request clarification, better interpretation of the rules and improved processing guidelines. Over the last four months since the regulations were issued, dioceses around the country have struggled to understand the new requirements and some churches have lost priests due to backlogs in application processing.
Take for example, a Korean church in rural Kansas. When the priest assigned to the church had to return to South Korea on an emergency, the church was provided a temporary priest for only three months, said Monsignor Charles McGlinn of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas. “It will probably be well over six months to get the R-1 visa for the assigned priest, so there will be some significant time that the
Korean Catholic community will be without a priest,” said Msgr. McGlinn. Kansas City is not alone. Staff in CLINIC’s religious immigration section have worked with more than 250 dioceses and religious organizations to educate and update them on the new regulations. “Rules have changed for religious workers and the new complexities of the law are often baffling for our clients,” said Anne Marie Gibbons, director of CLINIC’s religious immigration services. “We have received a number of phone calls and e-mails from religious workers and their sponsors who want to know why the processing of their visa applications will take so long.” The new regulations imposed significant changes to the way dioceses bring in foreignborn workers and called for major changes in how religious workers apply for authorization to enter the United States. In addition, USCIS is asking for extensive documentation including detailed information about the sponsor, current employees, numbers of foreign-born employees sponsored, and exact nature of the work to be performed. USCIS may also conduct on-site inspection to verify evidence submitted. The additional attestations are asignificant burden for many dioceses, said Gibbons. There is now a two-step process for individuals brought into the United States to work for the Church and other religious communities, Gibbons said. Dioceses that sponsor an individual to come to the United States for religious employment must now wait for approval from the USCIS beforeapplying for a religious visa at the U.S. consulate abroad. Previously, religious workers could apply for a visa without prior USCIS approval. The additional step has meant delays for several dioceses. In Kansas City, a community of sisters from India who work in an archdiocesan nursing home are uncertain when they can return home because visas for their replacements have not been approved. “The sisters came expecting to be rotated back to their country and replaced by new sisters,” Msgr. McGlinn said. “Since the new regulations have been enacted, the issuance of the sisters’ R-1 visas has been seriously postponed causing hardship to the community and the nursing home.” Sisters, brothers, and priests are facing major challenges because of the two-step “We are working with the USCIS to address the backlog in applications and to hopefully decrease the number of delays for dioceses like the Archdiocese of Kansas City.” She said.
Catholic organizations focus on impact of climate change on poor
Urge greater funding to help poor affected by climate change worldwide
Cite call to care for creation and the ‘least of these’
U.S. BISHOPS, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES CALL FOR GREATER COMMITMENT TO HELP POOR AROUND THE WORLD IN CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION
WASHINGTON—Leaders of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) said they were encouraged by provisions aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable at home and abroad in the latest climate change legislation, but added that they were “very concerned about the inadequate funding for assisting the poorest people and countries on earth” to help them adapt to the impact of climate change.
In a June 22 letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, Albany Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Ken Hackett, president of CRS, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) “groundbreaking legislation” that “begins a serious and overdue effort to face up to moral and environmental challenges and represents an important beginning.”
Bishop Hubbard and Mr. Hackett cited the call for Catholic bishops and many in the faith community to “care for creation” and for “the least of these” and noted that they were “deeply disappointed” that funding for international adaptation falls far short of what is initially needed and that additional increases for such funding is pushed too far into the future.
“Catholic Relief Services is already experiencing the tragic consequences of climate change in the lives of people living in poverty,” they added, noting that CRS is helping over 100 countries adapt to the impact of climate change through health, agriculture, water and emergency preparedness programs.
Hubbard and Hackett expressed their support for provisions protecting low-income people from potential rises in energy costs resulting from the legislation, as well as measures helping not-for-profit and faith-based institutions become more energy efficient.
“As the legislative process moves forward,” they said, “we look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to increase funding for international adaptation assistance and taking a major step toward caring for creation and protecting ‘the least of these.’”
Full text of the letter can be found online at: www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/climate/2009-06-24-let-crs-usccb-to-congress-climate-change.pdf
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Keywords: U.S. House of Representative, letter, Catholic Relief Services, CRS, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, U.S. bishops, USCCB, climate change, H.R. 2454, American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, international adaptation, poverty, funding
The current food crisis has impacted billions of people around the world as the cost of almost all agricultural products has increased by 40% in the last year and 83% over the last 3 years.
The food crisis has been caused by a number of various factors, including but not limited to: changing climate, growing middle class populations in developing countries, rise in energy prices, under investment, and stockpiling.
Food Crisis and Catholicism
Catholic social teaching is rooted in the sacredness and fundamental dignity of every human life. The right to life includes the right to food and nutrition to sustain life and enable a person to develop in dignity. As Catholics, we are also called to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters worldwide who are suffering. Pope Benedict XVI recently said at a World Food Security Summit in Rome, "If you do not feed someone who is dying of hunger, you have killed him" and "everyone has a right to live."
Short-Term and Long-Term Responses
Short-term: USCCB and CRS have urged the U.S. to provide emergency funding to help hungry people in the U.S. and around the world. More food aid, cash vouchers, and development programs are needed to meet immediate food needs here and abroad.
Long-term: USCCB and CRS support and advocate for the increasing of development assistance to developing countries for research, technology, and other ways to develop the agricultural industry; a change in agricultural policy; increase support for alternative sources of energy; and response to climate change.
Pray for those in need and those who respond to their needs.
Learn about the food crisis and how you can help.
Act, join a advocacy network or volunteer.
Please click here to learn more.
For Sediqa Abdul-Shakur and her seven children, refuge in the United States has meant not only protection from killing by the Taliban, but friendships that forge understanding. The family had to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban killed Sediqa’s brother and her husband was targeted and disappeared. They lived as refugees – the children unable to go to school – first in Pakistan, then Kyzyrgistan, Russia. After four years they were admitted to the United States as refugees, resettling in Louisville, KY with very little English and the typical fears that refugees bring to a strange land. The family was welcomed and supported, financially and emotionally, by MRS partner Catholic Charities and is adjusting well, surrounded by new friends and building new lives.
Though quick to smile, Eddy Lupiya wears much of his quiet burden in the small wrinkles already creeping into the corner of his eyes. At 17, he has borne more than many should bear in a lifetime, but he has also decided to channel that pain into something positive.
Here in the Northwestern Province of Zambia, AIDS has left a deep scar in rural communities like Eddy’s town of Solwezi. In a country where the United Nations estimates 16.5 percent of the population is infected with the HIV virus, skyrocketing numbers of children are facing the loss of one or both of their parents, left to be raised by grandparents, aunts, or in Eddy’s case, an impoverished mother and a stepfather who refuses to support him with any financial assistance. His is an all too familiar story across much of Africa. For many, a childhood spent in the absence of loving and supporting parents can lead to many long-term problems – poverty, crime, and hopelessness.
Motivated to succeed where so many others have failed, Eddy found direction through a unique program aimed at empowering a generation of Africa’s orphans with a knowledge of their rights and responsibilities as children and individuals. Through the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program run by the Diocese of Solwezi and supported by Catholic Relief Services, Eddy met many others who are living with the loss of one or both of their parents. Perhaps more importantly, he met volunteer counselors trained in a variety of counseling and psychosocial support activities – counselors who encouraged him to continue on his path of self-betterment.
Now a member of the OVC program, which reaches out with care and support to more than 2,250 children, Eddy works with other young orphans to encourage them to succeed, even as he himself still struggles daily with the poverty and lack of support that many orphans must deal with.
“When I graduate [secondary school] I want to develop the psychosocial program further, so I can help my friends,” Eddy said, reflecting the courage and selflessness that has marked his young life thus far. “My plan is that I want to teach others about my life, to tell them about my problems, because I understand.”
On July 2, 2000, Liberian security forces, with orders from the abusive President Charles Taylor, came looking for Mr. James B. Unable to find him, they beat and raped his wife, who was six months pregnant with their second child, and beat his father. His wife miscarried, and both she and his father died of their injuries.
Mr. B was marked for death due to his long-time student activism, labor organizing, and role as a government minister outspoken against President Taylor’s dictatorial rule. He witnessed graft and corruption at the highest levels of government and had the courage to speak out. He said he knew of the danger, “but as the leader of the workers’ group, I had to speak, so people would know about our plight.” Mr. B. was detained for two weeks, and taken out three times a day for interrogation and torture, including beatings with whips, batons and rifle butts. During his two weeks in prison, eight of his cellmates died from the beatings. He was released after a Catholic human rights group took on his case. Mr. B. contacted his father, who warned him to flee the country, saying that Taylor’s men had been looking for him. Days later, the soldiers returned and attacked Mr. B.’s father and his wife. After months in hiding, he fled Liberia.
With the help of an attorney from the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), Mr. B. obtained political asylum in the United States. He is one of up to 25,000 political asylees granted status and safety in the United States each year as an example of our country’s principle of affirming human rights here and abroad.
Mr. B. now lives safely in the United States, working in a clerical position and receiving help from CLINIC again to immigrate his 7-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son. Speaking of his long journey toward asylum, Mr. B. said, “My CLINIC attorney is the first person in the United States who worked for me without asking for a dime. I just wanted to tell my story, and she listened.”
Sadly, stories similar to these are all too familiar and get played out in every region of the world. Through the resources of the Catholic Relief Services Collection, the Catholic Church is able to answer the Gospel call to act in solidarity with and offer help to many of the victims of injustice and oppression. For in them we are encountering Jesus in disguise.
In Oromia, Ethiopia, two consecutive seasons of poor rains dried up pockets of farmland in southern and eastern Ethiopia, producing no crops. Many people in these areas have literally nothing to eat. And with food prices soaring worldwide, they can’t afford to buy the dwindling and increasingly expensive supplies in the market.
In partnership with aid agencies, the Ethiopian government is responding by distributing emergency food rations and setting up feeding sites for malnourished children. But more help is urgently needed.
At a local Catholic church in the Oromia region, hundreds of children are receiving therapeutic milk and treatment. Through feedings every three hours, these children are incrementally regaining their health.
“Catholic Relief Services is helping our local diocesan partners to feed people severely impacted by this year’s drought. Loaned trucks and drivers are also enabling partner staff to visit remote villages and bring in the most malnourished children for immediate treatment,” explains Shane Lennon, CRS’ head of programming in Ethiopia.
In other less-productive areas, the Ethiopian government has made considerable progress increasing agricultural capacity and assisting those most at risk of not having sufficient food resources. A massive program started in January 2005 coordinates the efforts of multiple donor agencies and partners to provide supplemental food to 8 million of the neediest people. The hope is that with a few years of support, these families will be able to build sufficient household assets and food stores to weather future crises without tragic results.
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) was established to enhance and expand delivery of legal services to indigent and low-income immigrants principally through diocesan immigration programs and to meet the immigration needs identified by the Catholic Church in the United States.
CLINIC has secured counsel for 53 immigration detainees who otherwise would have lacked representation, referred 85 low income cases to pro bono attorneys in private practices, worked with 20 programs nationwide to create or expand their capacity to provide immigration services, accepted 32 new removal cases, made 113 court appearances, made 388 rights presentations to 7,676 adult and child detainees, held 3,499 consultations, and participated in 48 detention training sessions.
CLINIC is working in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to advocate with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to improve immigration policies and practices.
Originally from Smawa in southern Iraq, the Al-Abes family made their long journey as refugees after Desert Storm in 1991. The family finally made it to Memphis, Tennessee and with the help of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Memphis, they found a one room apartment and employment.
One of the sons, Kamel, graduated from the Computer Learning Center and says he believes education is the key to a better life. All three brothers have earned degrees and are on their way to fulfilling that prophecy.
Today the Al-Abes family is actively involved with the Islamic Center in Memphis. They also provide help and support to other refugee families in the area.
Mustafa Hassan Al-Bayati and his family suffered greatly during Saddam Hussein’s rule while living in Baghdad. In 2004 Mustafa’s father was kidnapped and was killed in 2005. The family was forced to flee to Jordan. The family eventually came to San Diego as refugees.
Mustafa now works with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of San Diego’s Refugee Services Department as a resettlement aide. He plans to continue his education and become a computer engineer.
Carlene, a 44-year old mother of two, lost her job in the Haitian apparel industry in October 2006. She and her children struggled to survive. But her life was turned around by the impact of a trade preference bill, the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act of 2006, that was passed by Congress in part through the advocacy of the USCCB Committee on Justice, Peace and Human Development (JPHD) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Between March 2007 and June 2008, Haiti recovered approximately 5,000 apparel jobs that had been lost in recent years. In January 2008, as renewed clothing orders came from the United States, Carlene got her old job back.
Unfortunately, Carlene and her co-workers were limited to cutting and sewing simple garments like socks and t-shirts and did not have the opportunity to make clothing that requires more skill and would provide better wages.
JPHD and CRS continued advocating for trade opportunities for Haiti, and in June 2008 improvements were made to the existing bill that would lead to increased investment in Haiti and that will likely create up to 30,000 jobs. In addition, the new and improved HOPE II Act would strengthen labor protections for Haitian workers and provide capacity building funds to ensure better worker rights.