Part of the misison of Operation Rice Bowl is to encourage us to learn about the causes of hunger and the people who live with hunger everyday. One place to do that is through Catholics Confront Global Poverty.
(more…)

One of the prime directives of this blog is to keep concerned Catholics aprised of the work they do through CRS. We want to let you know what’s going on in your world and offer ways for you to engage with brothers and sisters that are near to our hearts, however geographically distant they may be.

To that end, check out the Catholics Confront Global Poverty site.

Here’s a message summary from the site: “The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) call on one million Catholics in the United States to confront global poverty. Advocate with us to end hunger, disease, conflict, and other issues that affect the lives of our brothers and sisters worldwide.”

Today is the second full day of the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C., an annual event co-sponsored by 18 national Catholic organizations throughout the country and attended by social ministry leaders in those organizations, local arch/dioceses, religious congregations, Catholic education, healthcare and others.
(more…)

Archbishop Timothy Dolan, recently appointed to head the archdiosese of New York, wrote in Commonweal about the need for Catholics to respond to Pope Benedict’s call to fight global poverty.
(more…)

Archbishop Odama is an unassuming man who champions the cause of peace and lifts up the needs of the most vulnerable, especially children caught in the midst of violence and crushing poverty. With great courage he has gone to the bush to speak with members of the Lord’s Resistance Army to encourage the rebels to set aside violence and take up dialogue. With equal passion he has challenged the government to work for peace and to meet the needs of its people.
(more…)

After Bishop Howard Hubbard gave his passionate speech about the new Catholics Confront Global Poverty Campaign, CRS President Ken Hackett took to the stage with an equally poignant message. His words are as follows:

The Catholic Church in the United States brings three assets to the Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative: experience, relationships, and teaching.
(more…)

The International Plenary at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering was well attended by more than 400 people from across the country, all eager to hear the speakers and to learn about the launch of this new CRS/USCCB counter-poverty initiative.

There was a lot of chatter among the attendees before the session started. Many wondered how this initiative would be different from previous campaigns, how they could get involved and what the main tenets of the initiative would be.
(more…)

India is a fascinating mix of amazing facts and contradictions. Despite the many benefits that India’s privileged classes have secured after a decade of impressive economic growth, the lives of hundreds of millions of poor and marginalized continue to stagnate in poverty and malnutrition, many of them in the slums depicted in the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionnaire.”

CRS Communications Officer Liz O’Neill asked Jennifer Poidatz, CRS Country Representative for India, to comment on the film.

Liz
There has been so much talk here in the United States about degree and magnitude of poverty portrayed in the film. Are the slums of Mumbai accurately depicted in the movie?
(more…)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today launched the much-anticipated Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative.

Introduced at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering on Capitol Hill, the two-year nationwide effort calls upon one million Catholics to confront global poverty by defending the life and dignity of people living in poverty throughout the world and to urge our nation to act and advocate.
(more…)

Writing in America, the national Catholic weekly, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard reiterates Pope Benedict XVI’s statement that “the new name for peace is development.” He says a renewed Catholic response to global poverty is in the offing.

In the article, Bishop Hubbard writes: “In response to the pope’s call ‘to fight poverty to build peace,’ the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services will reinvigorate the Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty soon. An initiative called ‘Catholics Confront Global Poverty’ will be launched on Feb. 23 (www.usccb.org/globalpoverty) with a goal of helping to educate and mobilize U.S. Catholics to defend the life and dignity of people living in poverty throughout the world.”

Howard J. Hubbard, bishop of Albany, is the chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The full text of his article can be found here.