Lenten alms giving: 40 Bucks for Lent

As part of your Lenten alms giving, please allow me to suggest to you a worthy and urgent charitable cause, namely the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ suffering greatly in the Middle East.

As part of their ongoing Christians At Risk campaign (#ChristiansAtRisk), the Knights of Columbus are encouraging us to give "40 Bucks For Lent." The new aspect of the Christians At Risk campaign, which has already raised more than $10 million, comes with its own Twitter hashtag: #40BucksForLent

You can make your donation either through the Christians At Risk web site, or by sending a check made payable to "Knights of Columbus Charities, Inc." with "Christian Refugee Relief" on the memo line to this address:

Knights of Columbus Charities
One Columbus Plaza
P.O. Box 1966
New Haven, CT 06509-1966

Please also remember the persecuted members of the Body of Christ daily in your prayers and offer your sufferings for them.

A good beginning, but we still have a long way to go

Yesterday I reminded you of an important work of mercy we can participate in by helping the Sisters of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary provide needed winter clothing to Syrians in Aleppo through Aid to the Church in Need. As of my post yesterday, the project had only received $370. When I checked it's status a moment ago, it had received $2,870. Many thanks to those who have made a donation!!!

However, that still leaves another $71,930 needed by the Sisters. Please, if you have not yet made a donation, I encourage you to do so. Every gift of whatever amount is important and through it the Lord will bring about much good. During this Jubilee of Mercy, let us never turn away from an opportunity to do a corporal or spiritual work of mercy.

You can find more information about this project and a link to make an online donation at this post. Thank you for your help!

A challenge to the apathy of Christians

On this first day of the Jubilee of Mercy, the Catholic News Service has published an excellent article by Matt Hadro titled, "Your apathy is hurting ISIS victims - a challenge to US Christians," in which he rightly says that "Christians in the U.S. must stop their apathy to the bloody persecution of religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, said a religious freedom advocate who proposed an “examination of conscience” for faith communities."

He quotes Timothy Samuel Shar, Associate Director of the Religious Freedom Project at Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at University, who describes the general apathy of Christians in the United States of America (and, if we are honest, of the West in general) toward the plight of our brothers and sisters in Christ suffering greatly under the Islamic State:

“Just as a basic matter of our experiencing the suffering of our brothers and sisters in some kind of way, experiencing some kind of solidarity, we are failing the test,” he said, calling his own Catholic parish “pretty indifferent” to the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.

“I don’t hear a lot of real outrage from Christian leaders about this issue, on a regular, consistent basis,” Shah said. “Where are the widespread demonstrations? Where are letters by thousands and thousands of pastors to appropriate leaders to do more about this? Where are the spontaneous grassroots campaigns? I don’t see them.”

The rest of the article is worth your time.

For more than a year now I have been trying to stir the consciences of Christians in the U.S. and in the West, but to little avail. Many have expressed their gratitude to me for keeping their plight before them, they have said a few prayers for them, but most have done little more. They have not written to their elected representatives. They have not organized prayers for them. They have not donated to charities working directly with them (I've had links to four such organizations at the top of the sidebar for months).

Thinking people might be more desirous of donating toward a specific goal, I shared the story of the Sisters of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary who are trying to provide winter clothing for Syrians in Aleppo. They need nearly $75,000 to fulfill this corporal work of mercy that confronts them today. Thus far, Aid to the Church in Need has only received $370 towards this project, most of which - if not all - has come from readings of this blog (some of whom have let me know of their donation).

To those who have made a donation toward this important cause, thank you! If you have not yet made a donation, please do so. Even a gift of just $5 will not be unimportant, especially if lots of you make such a donation. It all adds up.

Now that the Year of Mercy has begun, let us endeavor to be merciful like the Father whenever and wherever we can!

Work of Mercy: Sisters need our help to provide winter clothing to Syrians in Aleppo

As we watch the unraveling of society and see so many lives torn apart from afar, many people are asking how they can help, in a practical way, the suffering peoples of Iraq and Syria. With winter fast approaching, the Sisters of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary has an important way you can help in Aleppo, Syria:

[T]he Sisters want to help 3,500 of these children and 4,300 other needy people by providing shoes and warm clothing. Winters in Syria can be bitterly cold, and winter clothing is more expensive than summer clothing and in desperately short supply. By helping in this way, the Sisters are not only helping those in immediate need but also – by buying the shoes and clothing locally – helping to support the local shops and industries that produce and sell the clothing. In this city, where few people still have work, this is an important source of income for many struggling families [more].

Aid to the Church in Need wants to help cover the cost of this important corporal work of mercy,  which is expecting to cost $74,800, but they need our help or provide, as one of the Sisters remarked, "a smile to many faces and bring a little joy to their hearts."

You can make an online donation directly to Aid to the Church in Need for this project. It's a large sum of money they need to raise, but if each of us contributes a little, we should be able to reach it no time. Perhaps your (extended) family could make a collective donation or maybe even your parish take up a special collection.

News Round Up - 10 September 2014

Here's another collection of the some of the news you may have missed:

• Data collected recently by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that - for the first time in American history - married people no longer comprise the majority of the population in the United States of America (or at least since this data was first collected in 1976). Taking together with the continually declining birth rate - in 2013 it fell to 1.87 children per woman,  below the figure 2.1 needed to maintain the current population - this is troubling. And, no, over-population isn't a danger.

• I've always thought of the penny as an unreasonable part of U.S. currency and recent news confirms this thought: The U.S. mint lost more $100,000 in the production of pennies (and nickels) last year.

• The National Football League (NFL) collected more than $9,500,000,000 in profits in 2012, beating out the profits of any another national sport (Major League Baseball came in second with $7,000,000,000 in profits). The combined revenues in 2012 of the NFL, MLB, NCAA, NASCAR, NBA, and the Premier League totaled a whopping $33,700,000,000. Curiously, no one calls for any of these monies (not even part of the profits) to be used on the poor. Imagine what the churches could do if peopled contributed to charitable causes with the same energy!

• For months now we have been rightly hearing of the plight of Christians in Iraq and in Syria at the hands of the Islamic State and news of the plight of Christians in Nigeria under Boko Haram is coming to light, but we have not yet heard much about the plight of Christians in Libya where Catholics now feel "trapped and helpless" as the Dawn of Libya grows in strength. In three different parts of the world Christians are suffering persecution from militant Islamic groups, and these three are not the only ones active in the world.

• The Supreme of Court of Louisiana recently decided that if a penitent chooses to "waive" the seal of the confessional, a confessor can be required to reveal what he learned within the Sacrament of Penance. The Diocese of Baton Rouge has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States. This explains why the confessional seal cannot be violated.

• Archeologists digging at Tokat Castle in Turkey have unearthed dungeons where it is believed Prince Vlad III the Impaler - the historical origin of the legends of Count Dracula - was held captive in the early 1400s.

• The President of the Philippines, Benito S. Aquino III, has a introduced a bill that would create a new sovereign - mostly Muslim - region in the south Philippines aimed at ending more than forty years of Islamic rebel activity. In the long run, this is not likely a good idea.

Pope requests aid for Iraqi Christians, where to give

Today Pope Francis issued another plea on Twitter for the persecuted Iraqi Christians:

Those driven from their homes in Iraq depend on us. I ask all to pray, and for those who are able, to give material assistance.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 10, 2014

I suggested the same in my homily this weekend and am pleased to know not only that I am thinking with the Holy Father, but also that many people asked after Mass how they might contribute. One  organization come immediately to mind: the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support.

The CNEWA has a page set up so may make contributions directly to their work in Iraq. Donations may be made in your own name or in the name of another, are secure, and tax deductible.

Please, be as generous as you are able; no donation is too small!

Paprocki running for pro-life causes

One week from today His Excellency the Most Reverend Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, will run his eighteenth marathon in Kansas City with the Life Runners, a network of runners who raise funds for pro-life causes.



Bishop Paprocki will run to raise funds for pro-life activities in his Diocese:

• youth scholarships for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
• multimedia resources to educate youth
• advertising campaigns about post-abortion assistance

If you are able, please make a donation online as Bishop Paprocki runs for this most worthy of causes.

Brummer: Perhaps the day when we realize the dignity of the human person, God will give us the grace to discover a means to destroying cancer

Over at Lux Mundi, my friend Craig recently posted his thoughts on charitable donations, prompted the recent Relay for Life in Effingham.  His text follows, with my emphases:

Incited by a visit to my local Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, as well as a call today asking for a repeated pledge to the same society, for research and the like, I decided to look into their ethical standards. http://www.all.org/ , the website for the American Life League, proved to be my best resource. They offer a short description of different companies and associations, basing their rating on a number of human life-related ethical standards.


American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, and Lance Armstrong's Livestrong campaign, all failed according to the ALL. All of these, as well as an enormous number of others, use some sort of embryonic stem cell research directly, or support its funding. Unfortunately, the evil of cancer has often misguided many people to donate large sums of money, most especially to the American Cancer Society, in pursuit of finding a cure for cancer. While I must admit that I am highly ignorant in this area of scientific discovery, I do believe that the differences between research in adult stem cells, and embryonic stem cells, is enormous. Contrary to popular belief, the adult stem cells have proven to offer many more successful results.

All I want to convey, here, is that anyone considering donating money to a research organization, especially in such areas as cancer (where the research is extensive, expensive, and a long work in progress), one should first do a bit of research into the organization. Many of the big name research organizations trample over embryos, aborted fetuses, and fetuses in utero, in search of a cure for cancer. Perhaps consider another organization, or do your part to educate those soliciting the donations to see some of the evil that is being done to find a cure. Once again, the ends never justify the means. And a human person, as many a great ethicist has said, may never be used a means of something else, but rather must be respected as an end in and of himself.

That's my two cents, sparked by what seems to be innocent and good-willed work towards using science for the good of humanity. Hopefully, in the years to come, we can help educate people to understand that no cure, no matter how amazing or life-changing it may be, should ever take the life of a human person in order to be discovered. In the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we humans have been utterly redeemed, and our bodies and souls made holy before the eyes of God. Perhaps the day when we realize the dignity of the human person, God will give us the grace to discover a means to destroying cancer, and preventing it for the future. Until then, we must pray and hope that we, as the human family, do not overlook the weakest of our brothers and sisters.

Physical or virtual giving

Jonathan Sullivan has a post today in which he considers the benefits of using the Sunday envelope instead of giving to the Church electronically. He says:

While I think the electronic option would be good for older couples or single persons, as a father with small children it is important to me that my kids see how our family supports the Church financially. If they never see the money we give -- if it comes straight out of our accounts to the Church -- it is a lot harder for them to see the connection. By handing them the envelope and encouraging them to "put it in the basket," hopefully they will learn the habit of giving intentionally to the Church.

For what it's worth, I think he's right.

Almsgiving done wisely

It is a sad statement of fact that people of good will best be wise and prudent when giving alms to various organizations and charities. It is becoming more difficult to find groups not connected with practices contrary to the faith and to human decency.

Their Excellencies the Most Reverend Paul A. Zipfel, Bishop of Bismark, and the Most Reverend Samuel J. Aquila, Bishop of Fargo, released on Ash Wednesday a list of organizations to which Catholics and people of good will should not contribute because their practices are contrary to the moral law (March of Dimes and Susan G. Komen Foundation are on the list).

Their statement offers the teaching of the Church on the sacredness of human life and of marriage, provides guidelines for almsgiving, and states why the groups cited should not receive our contributions.

Let us keep these two brave Bishops in our prayers.

Capello tip to Thomas Peters, who suggests a few more organizations to which we should give.

Charitable giving

The weekend of November 21-22 will see the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

In a memorandum dated October 2, 2009, The Most Reverend Roger P. Morin, Chairman of the CCHD, assures his brother bishops that although the CCHD has in the past funded groups - such as ACORN - that have contradicted Catholic teaching measures are in place to ensure the CCHD does not fund such groups at the present time or in the future.

Indeed, "you can assure your people," he writes, "that this will be the third CCHD collection in which no funds have gone or will go to any national or local ACORN structures." The CCHD was founded in 1969.

What is more, the CCHD "takes seriously any allegation that groups we fund are not in compliance with Catholic teaching, or are participating in partisan political activity."

Many of the faithful remain concerned about contributing funds to the CCHD.

A friend passed on this suggestion to me for those with such concerns: contribute instead to Aid to the Church in Need, a group endorsed by the Servant of God Pope John Paul II.