American Catholic bishops award $10.5 million in grants from special collection money

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 17, 2024 / 18:05 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on National Collections announced that it has awarded $10.5 million in grants from the money that Mass-goers provided during special collections. 

Bishops serving on subcommittees that oversee national collections awarded 453 grants with the money generated by American Catholics. The grants support pastoral care, evangelization efforts, and social ministry in the United States and globally.

The grants were supported by five national special collections: The Bishops’ Emergency Disaster Fund, The Catholic Home Missions Appeal, The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, The Collection for the Church in Latin America, and The Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

“These collections are a powerful way of following Jesus’ commands to seek the lost sheep and to care for ‘the least of these,’” Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on National Collections, said in a statement.

“They are one way in which Catholics in dioceses across the United States can show solidarity and act together to provide tangible love and assistance to our neighbors in need, in this nation and around the world,” Wall said.

The Bishops’ Emergency Disaster Fund supports disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally, according to the USCCB. The money supports those affected by disasters, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, through Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA. It also supports the repair of Church properties damaged in disasters.

According to the USCCB, The Catholic Home Missions Appeal supports domestic and international dioceses and eparchies that do not have the funds to provide ministry without outside help. This included a special $146,000 grant to help dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies host stops for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in the United States.

The other three collections supported purely international missions. 

Grants provided to the Church in Africa included $1.4 million to bishops’ conferences, which supports the conferences’ pastoral activities and other pastoral work on the continent. The funding also provided $21,100 to the Daughters of Mary Immaculate to support a re-evangelization campaign.

The collections for the Church in Latin America supported 163 grants, the bulk of which financed pastoral projects, such as evangelization. They also supported disaster relief to two dioceses in Latin America and support for a Catholic radio station in the Dominican Republic.

In Eastern and Central Europe, a portion of the grants supported children and teenagers impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine. This includes funding to support a Catholic day camp and weeklong summer camp in the Diocese of Lutsk in Western Ukraine.

“The value of all of these grants is far more than financial,” Wall said. “Each of them represents the love that followers of Jesus have for one another — especially those who are poor or marginalized. Lives and hearts are transformed forever as the Holy Spirit works through the ministry that these grants provide.”