Collection to Help Serve Vulnerable and Marginalized People to Be Held on March 31

WASHINGTON— The annual Catholic Relief Services Collection will be held in many dioceses across the country on Laetare Sunday, March 31.

The Catholic Relief Services Collection supports the work of several Catholic organizations serving some of the most marginalized communities in the world. Programs include relief and resettlement for victims of persecution, war, and natural disasters; development projects to improve living conditions for people in poverty; pastoral services for rural workers and legal support services for poor immigrants in the United States; peace and reconciliation work for people suffering from violence and religious persecution; and advocacy on behalf of the powerless.

“This Lent we pray that our eyes are opened to see Christ, our redeemer, standing before us. This special collection is a way for us to see Christ in the face of those in need — people who are in poverty, suffering, vulnerable, and marginalized. I thank the faithful for their steadfast support of those in need and for answering Christ’s call to help them,” said Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Anchorage, Alaska, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on National Collections.

Funds donated to the special collection are provided to six Catholic groups that share in the Catholic mission of promoting the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person. These include the USCCB Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, and the USCCB Department of Migration and Refugee Services, as well as Catholic Relief Services, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Holy Father's Relief Fund. The USCCB Administrative Committee is responsible for grant-making from this national collection.

More information about the collection, including detailed information about who it supports and how the funds are distributed, can be found at www.usccb.org/catholic-relief. People who live in dioceses that do not participate in the collection can learn more online.  
---
Keywords: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Catholic Relief Service, Collection, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, poverty, pastoral services, legal services, immigrants,

###

Media Contact:
Judy Keane
202-541-3200