Catholic Home Missions Collection to be held April 28-29; Grants Support Essential Pastoral Programs

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal will be held in parishes across the country over the weekend of April 28-29. The Catholic Home Missions (CHM) grants assist dioceses and eparchies that would otherwise struggle due to difficult geography, impoverished populations, and limited resources. CHM funding supports essential pastoral programs, including religious education and youth ministry, priestly and religious formation, prison ministry, and lay ministry training.

"Too many of our brothers and sisters in the United States do not have access to even the most basic pastoral resources," said Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne, Archbishop of Anchorage and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. "As members of the Body of Christ we are called to help our neighbors and build the faith. Your generosity to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal has made the Church in the United States stronger."

The Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions oversees the Catholic Home Missions Appeal as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. The Subcommittee's grants are funded by donations to the annual collection. In 2017, the Subcommittee approved over $9.4 million in grants to assist 83 dioceses and eparchies for 2018.

Currently, there are 83 dioceses and eparchies that qualify for support from the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Mission – over 40 percent of all US dioceses. Home mission dioceses are located across the United States, including the Deep South, Appalachia, and the Rocky Mountains, as well as in US territories in the Caribbean and the far-away Pacific.

More information about the collection can be found at www.usccb.org/home-missions. Resources to promote the collection, including a social media toolkit, can be found at www.usccb.org/home-missions/collection.

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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, National Collections, Catholic Home Missions Appeal, ministry, evangelization, Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, religious education, priests, seminarians, religious formation, lay ministry

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Judy Keane
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