Bishop urges more attention to schools, health in foreign aid program

Published: 2006-02-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation has not gone very far toward health and education projects, the head of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee observed in a letter to the new head of the corporation. In an early February letter to John Danilovich, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., pointed out that the projects selected so far to receive funding from the account have gone toward improving agricultural productivity and infrastructure that links producers to markets. "We believe these are very important investments, particularly when they reach the poor directly," Bishop Wenski said. Nevertheless, "we remain deeply concerned about the overall dearth of ... funds for health and education," he said. A copy of the letter was released by the Department of Social Development and World Peace at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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