The Catholic Relief Services Collection Helps “Jesus in Disguise”

WASHINGTON—The Catholic Relief Services Collection (CRSC) supports families in distress, whether across the street or half way around the globe. The national date for this collection, which funds six major national and international Catholic relief agencies, is set for the weekend of April 2-3.

“I invite Catholics in the United States to consider all the good that these agencies do on our behalf by assisting families and people around the world and to donate generously to The Catholic Relief Services Collection,” said Bishop Kevin J. Farrell of Dallas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on National Collections.

The Catholic Relief Services Collection’s theme is “Jesus in Disguise: How will you help?” This year the focus of the collection is the family. The collection helps families, values their fundamental role in society, and strives to protect them.

For, example, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) program called National Pro Bono Project for Children matches unaccompanied immigrant children with legal service providers. These children are the most vulnerable migrants; they are usually without resources and are forced to navigate complex legal proceedings without representation.

Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS, pronounced “bricks”) is another program run through the Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). BRYCS helps refugee children, youth, and their families. The services provided by BRYCS help keep immigrant families intact and help them adjust to their new world.

In its initial response to the earthquake in Haiti, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) provided more than 10 million meals to more than a million people. Currently, CRS is providing food to more than 90,000 students in more than 270 schools, as well as monthly food rations to more than 100 orphanages and child care centers in Port-au-Prince. CRS continues to build transitional housing for displaced families and its cash-for-work program also provides a source of income for Haitians while they help to rebuild their country. CRS is also helping to rebuild St. Francois de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince and is leading an effort to provide advanced training to Haitian doctors and nurses.

The Catholic Relief Services Collection funds six Catholic agencies. In addition to CLINIC, MRS and CRS, other agencies funded by the collection are: the USCCB’s Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, which provides outreach and pastoral care to different ethnic and cultural groups; the Holy Father’s Relief Fund, which provides assistance to victims of natural disasters and other emergencies around the world; and the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, which advocates for poor and vulnerable peopleand for international justice and peace.

Additional information on The Catholic Relief Services Collection can be found at https://www.usccb.org/crs/.

---

Keywords: National Collections, The Catholic Relief Services Collection, CRS, MRS, BRYCS, CLINIC, Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, The Holy Father’s Relief Fund, Bishop Kevin Farrell

# # # # #