Catholic actor finds Christmas joy in helping US charity

ROME (CNS) -- With the Vatican's Nativity scene and huge Christmas tree glittering in the Roman sun behind him, David Henrie reflected on the joy of giving during the Advent season.

As a father of three young children, he said, it was important he find a more "visual way" to help them understand and experience this "spirit of Christmas that involves giving back."

An actor, director, producer and active Catholic, Henrie was in Rome promoting some of his latest projects, including his expanding partnership with the U.S.-based Cross Catholic Outreach, which helps mobilize Catholics to bring material and spiritual support to the poorest of the poor through the church's international network of dioceses, parishes and missionaries. 

Henrie told Catholic News Service Dec. 18 that the charity's Box of Joy ministry made the joy of Advent and Christmas more "memorable" for his family by helping them experience it in a different, concrete way.

"It was the perfect thing for me and my family because my kids got to go pick out little toys and little gifts that they put in a little shoe box and send to a kid somewhere in the world who maybe hasn't had a Christmas present before," he said.

Since 2014, Cross Catholic Outreach has helped families, parishes, schools and others pack and deliver more than 781,000 Box of Joy gifts to children in developing countries. The gifts include toys, clothing, school supplies, a rosary and the story of Jesus as a sign of Christ's love and compassion for everyone.

Henrie said the project opened his children's eyes to how some children don't have toys or even enough food to thrive. "I got to explain to them the concept of poverty in a way that they felt like they were contributing."

"What a way to help them be curious about poverty and what we can do to help poverty," he said, "and they took so much delight in picking out their favorite toys for other kids out there."

To this day, he said, when they pray the family rosary, "I go, 'What do you guys want to pray for?' And they go, 'For the poor kids who don't have gifts!'"

As "ambassador" for Cross Catholic Outreach, Henrie went with his wife, Maria, to Guatemala in 2024 and the Dominican Republic in 2023 to personally deliver Box of Joy gifts. 

"I remember we were handing out tons of boxes, my wife and I, and I got down to one last box," during the mission trip to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guatemala, he said.

One little girl "wanted the box so bad, but she goes, 'But I have a brother.' And so she took our last box, and she gave it right to her brother," Henrie said, remarking how impressed he was with her selflessness.

"I was like, 'Oh, I'm not that generous.' That was so nice of her to do for her little brother," he said.

While the people he saw lacked so many material necessities, they were abundant in faith, he said. Homes without bathrooms and running water would have "little shrines to the Blessed Mother" and "prayer corners."

"I got so much out of it," he said, urging Catholics to visit BoxOfJoy.org and get involved before Dec. 25.

"Right now is the perfect time," he said, especially "if you're looking for a way to get your family together around this wonderful initiative."