Sometimes it seems there is more bad news than good news. When there is, anti-Catholics are usually the first to ask what the Church is doing.
Well, here's a couple of things Catholics are doing to help:
In the wake of the recent oil spill from a deep sea rig in the Gulf of Mexico last week, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is contributing towards several initiatives to help fishermen in Louisiana, many of whom have lost their only means of providing for themselves.
On Thursday, St. Thomas Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans served as the distribution site for aid, partnering with Catholic Charities, Second Harvest Food Bank and local Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nunngesser's office.
St. Thomas Church helped provide necessary relief to fishermen who are unemployed due to closed waters in Plaquemines Parish. The needy were supplied with emergency food boxes, baby supplies and other services.
On May 5, the Archdiocese of New Orleans reported that the group Santa on The Bayou teamed up with St. Bernard Catholic Church, Catholic Charities and Second Harvest Food Bank to distribute emergency relief for the fishermen and their families in the Bayou area.
The Greek Orthodox Church will stand by the “battered Greek people” during the current economic crisis, said Archbishop Hieronymos II of Athens, the Church’s primate, during a meeting with the nation’s prime minister.
“We know that the consequences of the [EU-imposed austerity] measures will be more strongly felt after the summer, so we are getting ready, training parish priests to deal with the crisis,” added Father Gabriel Papanicolaou. “we also are preparing to supply food, clothes and other relief items, as well as to care for the needs of the people who lose their jobs, assist them with pastoral and psychological attention. The church will stand by the people as it always has.”
Cardinal Justin Rigali presented a check for over $1.8 million to the president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on Wednesday for aid efforts for earthquake victims in Haiti. He declared the gift an expression of “very beautiful and profound love.”
The Archbishop of Philadelphia presented the check to CRS president Ken Hackett at Incarnation of Our Lord Parish in the Olney section of Philadelphia.
The parish has a large number of parishioners personally affected by the devastating January earthquake. Attendees, who included some of the approximately 2,300 Haitian Catholics in the archdiocese, sang hymns in Haitian Creole.
The money was raised through special collections at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 267 parishes, a CRS press release says.
Cardinal Rigali said the contribution provides an opportunity to express “very close solidarity” with the people of Haiti.
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