Collection invites us to help poor

By Br. Steve Herro, O.Praem.

	Br. Steve Herro

"Our area doesn't need another homeless shelter. A homeless person has never phoned me to say that he needs housing" --A city alderman in northeastern Wisconsin describing why he would work against the addition of another shelter in his city.

"I was holding the hand of a sickly baby with HIV/AIDS. I saw a room full of cribs with 92 infants who all needed some loving.... Sr. Veronique showed us the 'very expensive infant formula that Catholic Relief Services provides to us.'... She mentioned in a matter of fact manner that the infant formula was what keeps the underweight babies alive and she told me to 'thank everyone at Catholic Relief Services for this formula.' I told her that Catholic Relief Services was just a tool for the Catholic community in the USA and the formula comes from U.S. Catholics" --Brian Backe, Catholic Relief Services's director of domestic services, after a site visit to Burundi.

"The church can never be exempted from practicing charity as an organized activity of believers and, on the other hand, there will never be a situation where the charity of each individual Christian is unnecessary, because in addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love" --Pope Benedict XVI, "Deus caritas est," #29.

	Helping others What: Special collection "For the World's Poor" When: March 17-18 Where: All parishes in the Green Bay Diocese Who: Benefits Catholic Campaign for Human Development (to combat domestic poverty), Catholic Relief Services (to assist in overseas relief and development work) and Peter's Pence (to help the poor in dire need, especially after emergencies).

On March 17-18, Catholics who make up the Church of Green Bay will contribute to a second collection, "For the World's Poor." The collection supports three vital Catholic ministries: Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Peter's Pence.

Our gifts to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development fund projects that accomplish one of three goals: helping Americans break the chains of poverty by strengthening organizing units that help ensure that the voices of low income people are heard in halls of government, business and the media; helping Americans break the chains of poverty by strengthening economic development units that increase the economic power and produce jobs for low income people; providing transformative education to help the non-poor understand and eliminate poverty.

When I read the comment above from a northeastern Wisconsin city alderman, I thought, "This is why we need CCHD. If this alderman is waiting for a phone call from a homeless person to ask for a room, he is out of touch with poverty."

CCHD does not build homeless shelters. It helps fund projects that empower people, such as the homeless, to stand up for their rights and bring about structural change. CCHD funded partners are strengthened to challenge forces that restrict their access to standard housing, quality health care, 21st century education and clean land, water, air and soil.

While attending the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering last month I heard Brian Backe tell a hushed ballroom of 600 people about how Catholic Relief Services impacts the poorest of the poor in the 99 poorest countries of the world. I was not the only teary-eyed person in the room when Brian told of explaining to the Missionaries of Charity that the baby formula for African AIDS orphans is not a gift from CRS, but is a gift from the Catholic men, women, and children of the U.S. Was I crying because of the utter destitution of the AIDS orphans or because of the pride that I felt to be a member of a church and nation that occasion after occasion stands up for the least among us?

Peter's Pence is a fund administered by Pope Benedict XVI. It allows the Holy Father to tend to the needs of poor dioceses, victims of war and natural disasters, assist refugees and immigrants, and help alleviate other cases of extreme poverty. Catholics worldwide contribute to Peter's Pence.

Our support of the collection for the World's Poor is based on the premises of Catholic social teaching:

• We practice "an option for the poor and vulnerable" by sacrificing some of our own comforts in order to ensure that the destitute, in our country and abroad, have a stronger voice in their government, clean water, adequate health care and decent education.

• We help advance "the dignity of work and rights of workers" by giving to projects that help secure a living wage for U.S. industrial workers, fair prices for our farmers and job skills training for workers in the developing world.

• We practice "solidarity" by contributing to the safety and livelihood of men, women and children in less developed countries, sharing the fruits of the richest nation on earth with families that struggle on less than $1 a day.

Please be generous March 17-18. We cannot all be organizers for CCHD funded community organizing groups, help CRS staff build schools in Afghanistan that educate the people in trades beyond opium production, or rescue people from tsunamis in Indonesia. However, each of us can and must pray for and monetarily assist the world's most destitute people.

(Br. Herro is the social concerns consultant for the Green Bay Diocese.)