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Everyone can be a saint by following the Beatitudes, pope says
Posted on 11/1/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God wants everyone to be a saint, and the clearest path to achieving that goal is loving service to others, Pope Francis said.
Celebrating the feast of All Saints, the pope led the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer Nov. 1 with thousands of visitors in St. Peter's Square. Hundreds of them had just finished the annual Race of the Saints, a 10-km run that begins and ends at the square.
The runners remind everyone that "the Christian life is a race, but not the way the world races, no! It is the race of a heart that loves," the pope said, adding thanks to the runners for supporting a Salesian Missions' project in Ukraine.
God calls everyone to holiness, the pope said, and he gives all the baptized what they need to become saints, "but he does not impose it."
God gives everyone the freedom to follow the example of Jesus, to discern and accept God's plan, to treat others the way God would and to place themselves at "the service of others with an ever more universal charity, open and addressed to all," Pope Francis said.
The Eight Beatitudes, listed in the feast day's Gospel reading -- Matthew 5:1-12 -- are a clear roadmap to sainthood, the pope said, and the path followed by Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa of Kolkata and St. Oscar Romero.
Everyone can list many saints, he said, both those formally canonized and those "I like to call the 'saints next door,' the everyday, hidden ones who carry on their daily Christian lives," the pope said. "Brothers and sisters, how much hidden holiness there is in the church!"
"So many brothers and sisters" have lived lives "shaped by the Beatitudes: poor, meek, merciful, hungry and thirsty for justice, peacemakers," he said. "They are 'God-filled' people, unable to remain indifferent to their neighbor's needs; they are witnesses of luminous paths, which is possible for us as well."
The feast of All Saints is a good time to reflect, Pope Francis said. "Do I ask God, in prayer, for the gift of a holy life? Do I let myself be guided by the good impulses that his Spirit inspires in me? And do I commit myself personally to practicing the Beatitudes of the Gospel?"
The pope also encouraged people to visit, if possible, the graves of their loved ones Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls. And he told them the Mass "is the greatest and most effective prayer for the souls of the deceased."
As always, the pope asked people in the square to pray for peace in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, for the victims of a terrorist attack on a military base in Chad Oct. 28, and for the victims of recent flooding in Spain, particularly in and around Valencia.
Pope asks Vatican media to reduce spending as they share the Gospel
Posted on 10/31/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis told members and staff of the Dicastery for Communication that the Vatican and the Catholic Church need their expertise to share the Gospel, but he also asked them to find creative ways to do it while cutting their expenses.
"I dream of a communication that is heart to heart, letting ourselves be touched by what is human, letting ourselves be wounded by the dramas that so many of our brothers and sisters live," the pope said Oct. 31 at the end of the dicastery's plenary meeting.
In addition to listing a variety of "dreams" for how the Vatican's vast communications apparatus would inform people, shine a spotlight on truth and share stories of faith, Pope Francis added to his prepared remarks.
"We must still have a little more discipline regarding money," he said. "You must find a way to save more and find other funds, because the Holy See cannot continue to help you as it does now. I know it is bad news, but it is also good news because it inspires creativity in all of you."
The Vatican Secretariat for the Economy has not published Vatican budget figures since 2022. At that time, it said the dicastery and its various media outlets -- the multilingual Vatican News website, Vatican Radio in Italian, L'Osservatore Romano newspapers in various languages, the Vatican press office, the Vatican's book publishing arm and the Vatican video production center -- cost about 40 million (about $43.4 million) in 2021. The expenditures accounted for 25% of the Vatican budget.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told Catholic News Service Nov. 1 that in 2023 the expenses minus revenues of the various Vatican communication outlets led to a deficit of 27.5 million euros ($29.8) for the dicastery, which has about 570 employees.
While urging them to cut expenses and find new revenue sources, the pope thanked Vatican News for increasing to over 50 the number of languages in which it offers content on its website; the latest additions were Lingala, Mongolian and Kannada.
"I dream of a communication that succeeds in connecting people and cultures," the pope said. "I dream of a communication capable of telling and raising the profile of stories and testimonies from every corner of the world, circulating them and offering them to everyone," which he said the multilingual website makes possible.
Communicators, especially Catholic communicators, should not try to spread their own ideas, the pope said, "but to recount reality with honesty and passion," going "beyond slogans" and helping people to see, hear and respond to the needs of the poor, migrants and victims of war.
The church and the world need communications that foster "inclusion, dialogue (and) the quest for peace," he said. "How urgent it is to give space to peacemakers! Do not tire of recounting their testimonies in every part of the world."
"Although the world is shaken by terrible violence, we Christians know how to look at the many little flames of hope, the many stories, great and small, of goodness," he told them. "We are sure that evil will not prevail, because it is God who guides history and saves our lives."
More personally, he asked the dicastery and Vatican media to help him "make the heart of Jesus known to the world, through compassion for this wounded land. Help me, with communication, to ensure that the world 'which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart,'" he said, quoting his recent encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
"Help me with a communication that is a tool for communion," Pope Francis asked.
Pope: Make sure confirmation is not last time parish sees young people
Posted on 10/30/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church must put more effort into ensuring that the sacrament of confirmation is not the "sacrament of goodbye" for young people, who receive it and then do not come to church again until they want to get married, Pope Francis said.
"The problem is how to ensure that the sacrament of confirmation is not reduced, in practice, to 'last rites,' that is the sacrament of 'departure' from the church, but is rather the sacrament of the beginning of an active participation in its life," he said Oct. 30 at his weekly general audience.
Continuing a series of audience talks about the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, the pope said parishes need to identify laypeople "who have had a personal encounter with Christ and have had a true experience of the Spirit," and ask them to lead the confirmation preparation classes.
But all Catholics must help as well by rekindling the "flame" of the Holy Spirit that they received at confirmation like the disciples received at Pentecost, he said. And the Holy Year 2025, which opens Dec. 24, is a good time to do that.
"Here is a good goal for the Jubilee Year: To remove the ashes of habit and disengagement, to become, like the torchbearers at the Olympics, bearers of the flame of the Spirit," he said. "May the Spirit help us to take a few steps in this direction!"
"Confirmation is for all the faithful what Pentecost was for the entire church," the pope said, quoting the Italian bishops' catechism for adults. "It strengthens the baptismal incorporation into Christ and the church and the consecration to the prophetic, royal and priestly mission."
In other words, he told Arab speakers, "Through the sacrament of confirmation, the Holy Spirit consecrates and strengthens us, making us active participants in the church's mission."
Greeting a group of ethnic Croatian young people who had recently been confirmed in Germany, Pope Francis prayed that the Holy Spirit would "inflame your hearts and make you joyful witnesses for Christ."
Urging everyone present in St. Peter's Square to continue to pray for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Myanmar, the pope said he had just read about 150 people being gunned down.
Pope Francis did not say where, but some assumed he was referring to a terrorist attack Oct. 6 in the village of Manni, Burkina Faso, while Vatican News reported he was referring to Israeli attacks on northern Gaza.
"What do children, families, have to do with war?" the pope asked. "They are the first victims. Let us pray for peace."
Pray with Gratitude for Those Who Respond to Their Vocation, says Bishop Boyea
Posted on 10/29/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
WASHINGTON – “Joy and enthusiasm were palpable as thousands of seminarians, religious, deacons, priests, bishops and cardinals processed witnessing to the world that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, affirming their own vocations. There were people in tears who embraced each other as they experienced this historic moment in the life of our church in the United States,” said Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing. “We hope and pray the Eucharistic Revival and also this summer’s National Eucharistic Congress yield a generous harvest of vocations,” he added, reflecting on the Eucharistic procession held during the congress this July that saw over fifty-five thousand people gather in Indianapolis. The Catholic Church in the United States will commemorate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 3-9. Each year, dioceses, parishes, and schools take the opportunity to raise awareness for vocations, particularly those who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.
“We pray with gratitude for those who seek and respond in their daily lives to their vocation, whether that be as husbands, wives, parents, priests and other ordained ministers, and consecrated persons,” said Bishop Boyea, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. “And during National Vocation Awareness Week, we celebrate in a special way, the men and women who offer their lives to God through a life of service to the Church, ‘sowing seeds of hope and revealing to all the beauty of God’s kingdom’” as the Pope Francis says in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
Beginning in 1976, the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the liturgical year as an opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States to renew its prayerful support for those discerning an ecclesial vocation. In 2014, the commemoration of National Vocation Awareness Week in the United States was moved the week to the first week of November to better engage Catholic educational institutions in the efforts to raise awareness for vocations.
Resources on Vocation Awareness Week are available on the USCCB’s website, and also available in Spanish.
Papal commission releases report highlighting progress in safeguarding
Posted on 10/29/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Highlighting progress made in safeguarding and recommendations for rectifying ongoing gaps, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors dedicated its first annual report to all victims and survivors of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church.
"The commission's work -- including this report -- is and always has been about recognition and inclusion of victims and survivors of abuse in the life of the church," Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, president of the pontifical commission, said at a news conference at the Vatican Oct. 29.
"Your suffering and wounds have opened our eyes to the fact that as a church we have failed to care for victims, and that we didn't defend you, and that we resisted understanding you when you needed us most," he said.
"We praise your courageous testimony, and at the same time, we recognize that you are likely tired of empty words," the cardinal said. "Nothing we do will ever be enough to fully repair what has happened, but we hope that this report and those that will come, compiled with the help of victims and survivors at the center, will help to ensure the firm commitment that these events never happen again in the church."
The cardinal and other members of the commission presented their pilot annual report, a tool mandated by Pope Francis to measure and document the church's progress in safeguarding minors and vulnerable adults around the world.
"The pilot report is not intended as an audit of the incidence of abuse within church contexts," the report said. "This is especially due to time and capacity constraints" and "to a lack of reliable data in some countries, most notably reliable statistics on the number of children who are sexually abused."
"Hopefully, future reports will address the incidence of abuse, including the question of progress in reducing and preventing abuse," which might better fulfill "the long-term auditing function of the commission," it said.
The 100-page report produced detailed "profiles" covering about two dozen church entities.
The commission compiled information about safeguarding received from the about 17 bishops' conferences whose members visited Rome for their "ad limina" visits in 2023, and it also sent questionnaires, reviewed safeguarding guidelines and exchanged information with: the Consolata Missionary Sisters and the Spiritan priests and brothers; the dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith and Clergy; Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based confederation of the church's humanitarian agencies; and three other Caritas entities -- one each at the regional, national and diocesan levels.
The report also collected information and "trends" from the commission's four regional groups of local experts. Among the positive global trends the groups noted are greater collaboration between bishops' and religious conferences in safeguarding and a shift toward understanding safeguarding is about protecting human rights and dignity.
Some global "challenges" the groups found included: long delays in processing abuse cases by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; lack of resources for safeguarding training; clericalism and prioritizing the church's reputation over supporting victims and survivors; lack of effective measures in current safeguarding activities to address abuse online; and inadequate formation to help clergy in understanding and promoting safeguarding.
"While some serious studies of abuse prevalence have been conducted in local churches" in Europe, "there remains a persistent absence of reliable statistics about the scale of abuse by clerics and religious in several parts of the region," the report said.
In fact, the lack of data or the inability to access available data on sexual abuse by members of the church, it said, is a major hindrance to the empirical-based approach the commission depends on for formulating recommendations and strengthening policies.
Data is what helps the commission track "which initiatives are working and those that are falling short," Cardinal O'Malley wrote in the report. By compiling progress made and gaps to fill, the commission aims to promote transparency and accountability, "and be a sign of our commitment to restore the hope and trust of victims," their families and communities.
The commission expects the bulk of each year's report to be based on the information it manages to receive -- as not all diocesan bishops responded to the commission's questionnaire -- from bishops ahead of and during their ad limina visits to Rome. It will also canvas other dicasteries, religious institutes and lay Catholic associations to be included each year.
The commission's report proposed seven key areas for further study and action, emphasizing that its staff and experts were available to help all levels of the church.
Among the top priorities, the report said is: "access to the truth," especially for victims wanting information about their allegations of abuse and the status of their alleged abuser; a clear, uniform definition of what constitutes a "vulnerable adult"; a shared protocol that clarifies the different responsibilities of dicasteries in the Roman Curia and of the local church; "the need for a disciplinary or administrative proceeding that provides an efficient path for resignation or removal from office" of church leaders; and promoting the theological-pastoral vision of child dignity and human rights in relation to abuse, perhaps with an encyclical dedicated to the protection of children and vulnerable adults in the church's life.
A key goal of the annual report is to track and foster "pastoral conversion, a change of heart of overcoming our sinful past" while also encouraging continued steps, recognizing "there is still much needing to be done," Cardinal O'Malley said.
Known as "conversional justice," the process of conversion must include the practice of telling the truth, pursuing justice, making reparations and guaranteeing abuse does not happen again, "in other words, institutional reform," said Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a commission member and a lawyer from the Netherlands, who was the U.N. special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children from 2014 to 2020.
Juan Carlos Cruz, another commission member, communications executive and abuse survivor, said that it is true that the annual report is "not perfect" and is just "the tip of the iceberg" with so much more to do.
But, he said, "I've realized that there are many more good people in the church, many more good people, than bad."
"What happens is if the good people don't talk, they don't speak and they don't do things like this report, the bad people are very good at doing their evil, so they win," he said.
Encouraging other victims to tell their stories, Cruz said that people must keep "bringing light where many wanted darkness."
Pope to open Holy Door at Rome prison at beginning of Jubilee 2025
Posted on 10/28/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two days after opening the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica to inaugurate the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis will travel to a Rome prison to open a Holy Door as a "tangible sign of the message of hope" for people in prisons around the world, the Vatican announced.
The pope will go Dec. 26 to Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, "a symbol of all the prisons dispersed throughout the world," to deliver a message of hope to prisoners, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization's section for new evangelization and the chief organizer of the Holy Year 2025, announced at a news conference Oct. 28.
Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 24. He will then open the Holy Doors at the major basilicas of St. John Lateran Dec. 29, St. Mary Major Jan. 1 and St. Paul Outside the Walls Jan. 5.
In his "bull of indiction," the document formally proclaiming the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis wrote that during the Holy Year he will have close to his heart "prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, feel daily the harshness of detention and its restrictions, lack of affection and, in more than a few cases, lack of respect for their persons."
In the document, the pope also called on governments to "undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope" for incarcerated persons during the Holy Year, such as expanding forms of amnesty and social reintegration programs.
Archbishop Fisichella announced that the Vatican had signed an agreement with Italy's minister of justice and the government commissioner for Rome to implement reintegration programs for incarcerated individuals by involving their participation in activities during the Jubilee Year.
The archbishop also outlined the schedule of cultural offerings leading up to the Jubilee Year, during which the city of Rome estimates that 30 million people will visit the Italian capital.
The Vatican will organize a concert of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, to be performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Rome Nov. 3; three art exhibitions in November and December, including a display of rare Christian icons from the collection of the Vatican Museums; and a concert from the Sistine Chapel Choir two days before the opening of the Holy Door.
Archbishop Fisichella also unveiled the official mascot of the Holy Year 2025: "Luce" (Italian for light), a cartoon pilgrim dressed in a yellow raincoat, mud-stained boots, wearing a missionary cross and holding a pilgrim's staff. Luce's glowing eyes feature the shape of scallop shells, a traditional symbol of pilgrimage and hope.
The mascot, he said, was inspired by the church's desire "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth."
"Luce" will also serve as the mascot of the Holy See's pavilion at Expo 2025, which will take place in Osaka, Japan, from April to October 2025. The Holy See pavilion -- which will be hosted inside of Italy's national pavilion -- will have the theme "Beauty brings hope," and display the 17th-century painting "The Entombment of Christ" by Caravaggio -- the only one of his works housed in the Vatican Museums.
Pope warns against becoming a 'sedentary' church after synod's close
Posted on 10/27/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Three years after he asked the world's Catholics to walk together in faith on a synodal journey, Pope Francis said that the church cannot risk becoming "static" but must continue as a "missionary church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world."
"We cannot remain inert before the questions raised by the women and men of today, before the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelization and the many wounds that afflict humanity," the pope said in his homily during the closing Mass for the Synod of Bishops in St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 27.
"A sedentary church, that inadvertently withdraws from life and confines itself to the margins of reality, is a church that risks remaining blind and becoming comfortable with its own unease," he said.
Pope Francis delivered his homily seated in front of the basilica's newly restored 17th-century baldachin -- the gilded bronze canopy that had been shrouded in scaffolding for restoration work since February.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, was the main celebrant at the altar under the baldachin.
The previous day, the pope received the final document approved by the more than 350 members of the synod. The document called for the increased participation of lay men and women in all levels of church life, including in parishes, dioceses and in seminaries.
Pope Francis told the synod assembly Oct. 26 that he did not plan to publish an apostolic exhortation after the synod due to the "already highly concrete indications" in the final synod document, which he ordered published.
In his homily, the pope called on the church not to remain in a state of "blindness" to the issues in the church and the world, a blindness that can take the form of embracing worldliness, placing a premium on comfort or having a closed heart.
The church must listen to men and women "who wish to discover the joy of the Gospel," he said, but it also must listen to "those who have turned away" from faith and to "the silent cry of those who are indifferent," as well as the poor, marginalized and desperate.
"We do not need a sedentary and defeatist church," he said, "but a church that hears the cry of the world and -- I want to say it, maybe someone will be scandalized -- a church that gets its hands dirty to serve the Lord."
Reflecting on the day's Gospel reading from St. Mark in which a blind man hears Jesus pass by, asks for healing, regains his sight and then follows him, the pope stressed that following God on the synodal path entails cultivating the capacity to hear the Lord pass by and the confidence to follow in his footsteps.
"We follow the Lord along the way, we do not follow him closed in our communities, we do not follow him in the labyrinths of our ideas," he said. "Let us remember never to walk alone or according to worldly criteria, but instead to journey together, behind him and alongside him."
At the end of Mass, four Vatican workers carried the Chair of St. Peter into the basilica and placed it before the main altar. The chair -- temporarily removed for restoration from its encasement in a sculpture behind the basilica's back altar -- is traditionally believed to have belonged to St. Peter, the first pope.
In his wheelchair, the pope sat in front of the chair in prayer at the end of Mass.
In his homily he had said, "This is the chair of love, unity and mercy, according to Jesus' command to the Apostle Peter not to lord it over others, but to serve them in charity."
After Mass, the pope prayed the Angelus with visitors in St. Peter's Square. Speaking about the end of the Synod of Bishops, the pope asked people to "pray so that all that we have done in this month may continue forward for the good of the church."
Publishing synod document, pope says he will not write exhortation
Posted on 10/26/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After members of the Synod of Bishops approved their final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary post-synodal apostolic exhortation but would offer the final document to the entire church to implement.
"There are already highly concrete indications in the document that can be a guide for the mission of the churches in the different continents and contexts," he told synod members late Oct. 26.
"For that reason, I do not intend to publish an apostolic exhortation. What we have approved is enough," he said.
Instead, he ordered the publication of the synod's final document. With the exceptions of the first synods convoked by St. Paul VI in 1967 and 1971, all ordinary assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have been followed by an exhortation on the synod's themes and discussions by the pope.
Members of the synod on synodality, after meeting for a month in 2023 and again from Oct. 2-26, approved their final document by voting on each of the 155 paragraphs. All paragraphs passed with the approval of more than two-thirds of the members present and voting.
The document presented synodality as a style of Christian life and ministry based on the "equal dignity of all the baptized" and a recognition that they all have something to offer to the mission of proclaiming salvation in Christ.
The practical suggestions included making pastoral councils mandatory for every parish and ensuring the bodies are truly representative of the parish members, recognizing the contributions of women to the life and ministry of the church and hiring more women and laymen to teach in seminaries.
The 10 study groups the pope set up in the spring to research some of the more complicated issues raised by the synod -- women's ministry, seminary education, relations between bishops and religious communities, the role of nuncios -- will continue to work before offering him proposals, the pope said. "Time is needed, to arrive at choices that involve the whole church."
However, he promised that "this is not the classical way of postponing decisions indefinitely."
Instead, he told synod members, it "corresponds to the synodal style with which even the Petrine ministry is to be exercised: listening, convening, discerning, deciding and evaluating. And in these steps, pauses, silences, prayer are necessary. It is a style that we are learning together, little by little."
Much of the 2021-2023 process for the synod on synodality, the pope said, involved listening sessions on a parish, diocesan, national and continental level and included helping synod members themselves learn to listen to each other respectfully and listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit in those conversations.
The final document "is a triple gift," he said, one given to him first of all. "The bishop of Rome, I often remind myself, needs to practice listening and wants to practice listening so as to respond each day to the words of the Lord, 'Confirm your brothers and sisters in the faith. Feed my sheep.'"
The task of the pope, he said, "is to safeguard and promote -- as St. Basil teaches us -- the harmony that the Spirit continues to spread in God's church, in relations among the churches, despite all the struggles, tensions and divisions that mark its journey toward the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God, which the vision of the Prophet Isaiah invites us to imagine as a banquet prepared by God for all peoples -- all, with the hope that no one is missing."
Pope Francis repeated the phrase that has become a refrain since he first said it at World Youth Day in Portugal in 2023: "Everyone, everyone, everyone! No one excluded, everyone."
Harmony is the goal, he said, not uniformity. It is a sign of the Holy Spirit, just as it was on Pentecost when people of different nations heard the disciples proclaiming the wondrous works of God in their own languages.
The church, the pope said, "a sign and instrument of how God has already set the table and is waiting. His grace, through the Spirit, whispers words of love into the heart of each person. It is given to us to amplify the voice of this whisper, without hindering it; to open doors, without erecting walls."
"How bad it is when women and men of the church erect walls," he said. The Gospel is for "everyone, everyone, everyone! We must not behave as if we were dispensers of grace who appropriate the treasure and tie the hands of the merciful God."
U.S. Bishops’ Anti-Poverty Program Creates a Path to Good Jobs and Stronger Communities
Posted on 10/25/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
WASHINGTON – As the Catholic Church commemorates the World Day of the Poor on November 17, dioceses across the United States will take up the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) annual collection for their anti-poverty program, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for CCHD.
Founded in 1970, CCHD focuses on promoting the active participation of people experiencing poverty in the United States working together to create job opportunities, improve conditions in their neighborhoods, and address the root causes of poverty in their communities.
“When you give to CCHD, you uphold the dignity of the poor by creating a path to good jobs and better, stronger communities,” said Bishop Timothy C. Senior of Harrisburg, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. “CCHD opens the door to the active participation of those experiencing poverty to convene, identify barriers, research issues, brainstorm solutions, and take action to change problematic structures and systems in their communities and is an essential part of the social mission of the Church in the United States.
Last year, CCHD distributed more than $12.7 million to non-partisan grassroots organizations that help poor or marginalized people across the country work together to rise above the obstacles to living wages, affordable housing, and safe neighborhoods. Additionally, 25% of all contributions to diocesan CCHD collections stay in the diocese where they were given, funding local anti-poverty projects.
Among the national CCHD grant recipients are:
- Northwest Hub in Salem, Oregon, which teaches bicycle repair and basic business skills to people experiencing homelessness, many of them recently released from local prisons, rehabilitation centers, or mental health facilities.
- KC Can Compost in Kansas City, Missouri, which provides job training to people struggling to overcome barriers to employment through a composting business and training for work in green industry jobs.
- Seed Commons, based in New York City, which makes low-interest start-up loans nationwide to business cooperatives that are owned by their employees.
- Centro de Trabajadores Unidas en la Lucha, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which protects both union and non-union workers against injustices such as wage theft.
- Strangers No Longer, an outreach in several Michigan dioceses that provides basic assistance and encouragement to immigrants and refugees while advocating for both individual immigrants and immigration reform.
Grant applications are reviewed and approved by both the local bishop and the U.S. bishops’ subcommittee on CCHD.
“Organizations that receive funding from CCHD reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, and bring together Catholics, ecumenical and interfaith leaders, and non-religious members dedicated to making positive change. While they are religiously diverse, these funded organizations commit to advancing and uplifting Catholic moral and social teaching,” Bishop Senior said. “Once a grant is awarded, CCHD staff maintain close relationships with organizations throughout the length of the grant.”
For more information about CCHD see https://www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-campaign-human-development
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Religious Freedom is a Basic Human Right, say Bishop Rhoades and Bishop Zaidan
Posted on 10/25/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
WASHINGTON - “The Catholic Church teaches that religious freedom is a basic human right, which has even been called the ‘synthesis and summit of all other fundamental rights,’” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan and Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades. The bishop chairmen cited the Vatican’s International Theological Commission as they underscored the importance of religious freedom in commemoration of International Religious Freedom Day (Oct. 27). In its most recent report, Aid to the Church in Need found religious freedom violations in 61 countries where 4.9 billion people live. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Religious Liberty released a report earlier this year on the state of religious freedom in the United States.
“Religious freedom allows all persons to seek the truth about God and to respond to the truth when it is grasped. Sadly, throughout the world, people of faith do not enjoy this privilege. As Christians, we seek to build up the common good by fostering peace, tolerance, and respect for the dignity of others, but blasphemy and apostasy laws in many countries essentially criminalize what should be a person’s ability to choose one’s own religion. Other countries stifle religious freedom by forcing faith communities to support the state.
“Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasized the importance of religious freedom as a basic, primary and inalienable right that must be promoted everywhere. Here in the United States, the USCCB has not only echoed our Holy Father’s call, but made advocacy of religious freedom a high priority in public policy deliberations, most recently supporting the reauthorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Let us uphold freedom of religion and pray that globally, the dignity of the humans person will be recognized, tolerated, and respected.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was created in 1998 and monitors and reports on the worst violations of religious freedom globally in countries such as China, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Russia, and Syria.
Bishop Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon is chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Bishop Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend is chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Religious Liberty.
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