Dear Friends, In a few weeks, I will celebrate my last Christmas as an employee of Catholic Relief Services. As you know, I am retiring as president on December 31 and am handing over the post to Carolyn Y. Woo. Starting next month, Carolyn will be writing these letters to you. Almost 40 Christmases have [...]
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Dear Friend, In November, we in America take time to give thanks. This year, though, that might be tough for many who are facing unemployment, lesser employment or even a home foreclosure. Still, we find a way to give thanks for our many blessings, and do so around a full table, reminding us that the [...]
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Dear Friend, As fall begins, those of us at Catholic Relief Services headquarters can look over an eventful end to a summer that brought us everything from an earthquake that rattled our building to hurricanes that drenched us and forced even the smallest of streams over their banks. This all came as we marked anniversaries [...]
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Dear Friend, As you know, East Africa is in the grip of a horrible drought. We have all seen images of the hungry and malnourished arriving in refugee camps, many after walking for weeks or months, surviving not only the bleak landscape but also bandits and even wild animals. The perseverance of these people, of [...]
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Dear Friends, Please join me in welcoming Carolyn Y. Woo, the next president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. As one of the first lay members of the CRS board of directors, Carolyn is a familiar presence to us, and she and I have traveled together to visit our overseas programs. Carolyn is a warm [...]
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Dear Friends, I hope that everyone in the Catholic Relief Services family will join together this month to welcome a new nation into the world community: The Republic of South Sudan. I am traveling to Juba, its capital, for the independence day ceremonies on July 9. There I will join many CRS colleagues who worked [...]
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Dear Friends, So, we come to the end of another school year. For me, that means the wonderful opportunity to address graduates of some fine institutions of higher learning. This year, it was my privilege to speak at the commencements at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and St. Thomas University in St. Paul. It is so [...]
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Dear friends, Mother. It is such a simple, common, everyday word, yet so complex, so full of meaning. Play a word association game with it. What first comes into your mind when you hear it? Probably something like “nurture” or “supportive.” Think Mother Nature or Mother Earth. But we also use mother to mean strong [...]
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Dear Friends, Catholic Relief Services extends our deepest sympathies and heartfelt prayers to the people of Japan, who have endured a horrific tragedy that has touched all of us. Because the focus of CRS is on the poor people of the world, we do not have operations in prosperous, developed countries such as Japan. Nevertheless, [...]
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Dear Friends, The Lenten season is full of discussion about sacrifice, what it means and how it connects you and me to the selflessness that is at the center of our commitment to Christ. Consider what Pope Benedict XVI said in his Lenten message this year about fasting and the other sacrifices we make for [...]
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