Annual CRS collection is March 17 and 18

Social justice news
March 2007

ACLU challenges detention of immigrant children
Annual CRS collection is March 17 and 18
Counting up the human cost of China's economic "miracle
Iraqi Christians "losing hope"
New U.S. weapon could jumpstart nuclear arms race
Sharon Daly receives the 2006 U.S. Catholic Award for Furthering the Cause of Women in the Church
Social ministry leaders gather in Washington
U.S. and Iranian religious leaders discuss peace
Vatican: world must do more on women and human rights

Annual CRS collection is March 17 and 18
The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Collection, which has provided core funding for the work of five separate Catholic social ministry agencies in the United States, is slated for the weekend of March 17 and 18 this year.

The annual appeal, to which Catholics contributed more than $16 million in 2006, provides an opportunity for Catholics to support the less fortunate as part of the Lenten season. The amount raised last year represented an 11 percent increase over donations in 2005. The CRS Collection supports agencies that build the international social ministry of the Catholic Church through advocacy on behalf of powerless and impoverished people and through relief, recovery, and resettlement services to victims of earthquakes, floods, war, and religious and ethnic persecution.

The CRS Collection asks Catholics to see “Jesus in disguise” in the faces of the poor, the hungry, and the disadvantaged, and to support ongoing efforts to respond to their needs through the Church’s international social ministry.

Examples of how funds are used include:

• Providing emergency aid in the form of shelter, water and sanitation, education, and food to thousands of Sudanese refugees and internally displaced people in the midst of civil unrest

• Resettling refugees from countries like Afghanistan, Burma, and Liberia who have fled persecution and threats of torture

• Offering life-saving legal services to victims of torture and oppression to help them obtain asylum in the United States

For more than 60 years, generous support from Catholics for this collection (formerly known as the American Bishops’ Overseas Appeal) has provided core funding for the work of Catholic social ministry agencies in the United States that are engaged in international emergency relief, refugee resettlement, immigration, peacemaking, pastoral care, and advocacy for a more just and peaceful world.

More details about the collection are available at www.usccb.org/crscollection.

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