Collection aids poor

On March 5-6, Catholics in the Albany Diocese will have an opportunity to serve "Jesus in disguise" by contributing to a special collection benefiting five Catholic agencies that work to ease the burdens of the poor and needy around the world.

The annual fundraiser supports Catholic Relief Services, the U.S bishops' Migration and Refugee Services, the Holy Father's Relief Fund, the bishops' department of Social Development and World Peace, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).

Those agencies work to improve living conditions in hundreds of countries where poverty is a daily reality, discover and remove the root causes of that poverty, and provide aid to refugees, poor immigrants, and victims of war and natural disaster.

In a pulpit letter read last week in parishes throughout the Diocese, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard called the collection "an important opportunity to express Christian compassion and generosity."

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international relief and development agency of U.S. Catholics. It assists people in 94 countries with a constellation of long-term programs and emergency aid actions. Most recently, CRS has focused humanitarian efforts on the South Asian countries decimated by last December's tsunami.

CRS also benefits such programs as a school for orphans in AIDS-stricken Zambia, and humanitarian assistance to children in Israel and Palestine. Recently, the agency raised more than $10 million dollars to provide emergency relief for refugees in war-torn Sudan.

Migration and Refugee Services advocates for poor immigrants, refugees and political amnesty-seekers, like Sediqa Abdul-Shakur and her seven children, political refugees from Afghanistan.

CLINIC's focus is on the reunification of families and protection of those fleeing persecution or civil unrest.

These agencies also "build the capacity of the Church to respond to global concerns, such as religious freedom and debt relief to poor countries," Bishop Hubbard said. "In the story of the Last Judgment, Jesus reminds us to care for those in need. When we act with compassion, generosity and commitment to justice for the 'least among us,' we act as His true disciples."

(3/3/05)