U.S. bishops launch annual collection for Church in Latin America

Lima Newsroom, Jan 8, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced the launch of its annual collection in support of the Church’s mission in different areas of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

“With the support of parishioners like you, the collection for the Church in Latin America helps countless poor and marginalized people experience God’s love and share it with their neighbors,” said Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, Nevada, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on National Collections, in a Jan. 7 statement.

The prelate also recalled the example of Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma whom he met in 1981 and who was later martyred in Guatemala while dedicating his life to serving Latin American Catholics most in need.

“Blessed Stanley Rother ministered in Guatemala, even in the face of great danger because God had called him to love and care for Latin Americans in need. Father Rother’s ministry to the poor threatened the interests of powerful people and it ultimately led to his death,” the bishop said.

Mueggenborg shared that this heroic testimony “helped to inspire my own priestly vocation and my sense of solidarity with Catholics in Latin America.”

”The Collection for the Church in Latin America is an opportunity for all of us to answer that same call. It may not cost us our lives, but a financial sacrifice, even a small one, will go toward impacting the lives of many,” the prelate encouraged.

U.S. Church aid by the numbers

Last year, the collection raised $6.2 million, which went to more than 250 ministries in places where the Church cannot sustain itself without outside help, the USCCB said.

More than half of the funds were used to cover pastoral needs, about 28% went to disaster relief, and about 20% supported vocations and the formation of clergy and religious.

The following are examples of some of the projects that benefited from the collection:

— In Haiti, 330 lay leaders were trained in Catholic social teaching on ecology, combined with practices to improve soil and water, and reforestation to prevent erosion.

— In Honduras, the Diocese of Choluteca received support to serve migrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa as part of a program that integrates evangelizing the poor with respect and social sensitivity.

— In the Dominican Republic, 18 young women who joined the Poor Clares are receiving support as they pray for the world from their cloistered convent.

— In Ecuador, the International Eucharistic Congress, held in September 2024 with participants from 40 countries in attendance, was subsidized.

— In Brazil, the Archdiocese of San Salvador de Bahía implemented a social program that included converting cooking oil into cheap fuel and a World Day of the Poor festival with food, music, and a Eucharistic procession through impoverished neighborhoods.

Many dioceses will be taking up this collection the weekend of Jan. 25-26. It’s also possible to contribute online at #iGiveCatholicTogether.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Catholic World Report