CRS collection planned for March 17-18 in U.S. parishes

Published: 2007-03-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Catholic Relief Services collection, which funds five Catholic social ministry agencies, is planned for March 17-18 in parishes across the United States. The agencies sponsor programs involving emergency relief, refugee resettlement, immigration, peacemaking, pastoral care and advocacy for justice projects. Dates of the Lenten collection were announced March 5 in a joint statement by the U.S. bishops' Department of Communications and CRS. The statement said Catholics were being asked to see "Jesus in disguise" in the faces of the poor and hungry helped through the church's international social ministry. It said that more than 850 million people around the world are chronically hungry and that 15 million children die of hunger every year.

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