relief

February 11, 2015

Anticipation building for papal encyclical on environment

Ezo owl chicks sit in a tree just after leaving their nest on Hokkaido Island, Japan, June 11, 2014. Pope Francis plans to issue an encyclical on the environment later this year.

WASHINGTON - The much-anticipated encyclical by Pope Francis on the environment, expected sometime this spring or early summer, is generating a lot of buzz in Washington and elsewhere.

Published in International

January 26, 2015

CNEWA officials look at long-range needs of Lebanon's refugees

Msgr. John Kozar, president of the U.S.-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association, and Bishop Lionel Gendron of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Quebec, celebrate Mass at St. Charbel convent in Annaya, Lebanon, Jan. 19. Msgr. Kozar, Bishop Gendron and other officials spoke with Catholic News Service at CNEWA's Beirut office about their Jan. 19-23 visit to Lebanon

BEIRUT - Officials of a pontifical aid agency said they saw much that needed done in Lebanon -- if they could get beyond crisis mode.

Published in International

January 14, 2015

Funding for D&P to help Iraqi refugees through winter

Members of the Yezidi religious minority who fled from violence in Mosul, Iraq, receive humanitarian aid Aug. 21 in Dohuk province, in the northern part of the country. Catholic relief agencies are trying raise more money for additional aid in the region.

Thousands of refugees who fled Mosul, Iraq, six months ago, now living in tents near the border with Turkey, will get more stable and winter-ready housing thanks to an extra $2.4 million in government funding given to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Published in International

January 12, 2015

Pope thanks Catholics for helping Haiti, says much more left to do

Wilfrid Macena, in red, who lost a leg in the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, battles for the ball during an early morning practice in 2011 on a soccer field in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Macena and two other members of a Haitian amputee soccer team gave Pope Francis a soccer jersey and ball signed by team members during a Jan. 10 papal audience marking the fifth-year anniversary of the magnitude-7 earthquake.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis thanked Catholics worldwide for helping people in Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake, but said "there is still much work left to do."

Published in International

September 11, 2014

Indian church appeals for support for relief work in flood-hit Kashmir

This aerial view taken Sept. 10 shows houses submerged by floodwater in Srinagar, India. While nearly 250 people have perished in the floods following rains in the Kashmir Valley in the foothills of the Himalayas, more than 700,000 people have been maroo ned on rooftops, trees and hills since Sept. 7.

CHENNAI, India - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India has appealed to Catholics to mobilize funds and materials to augment church relief work in northern Jammu and Kashmir state, devastated by floods.

Published in International

October 11, 2012

D&P raises $1.8 million for African relief

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace commitment in the Sahel region comes to almost $8 million.

Millions of Africans have food today thanks to $1.8 million Canadian Catholics have given to their development agency.

The federal government will kick in about $1.3 million in matching funds to top up five months of fundraising by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

As drought struck the six-country region in May, Development and Peace saw famine on the horizon and began raising money. By August Ottawa stepped in to announce a matching funds program. A final tally of how much of Development and Peace's Sahel region fundraising is eligible for matching funds is pending, but so far the organization has identified approximately $1.3 million that Ottawa should match.

The total Development and Peace commitment in the region comes to almost $8 million, including a $5-million food distribution program the Canadian bishops' development agency is working on with Canadian Foodgrains Bank in three Sahel countries.

In Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad and Senegal Development and Peace is working with longstanding partner agencies and the Caritas Internationalis network on seed and food distribution, cash-for-work programs, subsidized food sales and nutrition clinics.

The federal government matching program ended Sept. 30.

Published in Canada