Pastoral Message, Week of November 13, 2005

Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)
Annual Collection November 19-20, 2005

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) annual collection will be taken up next weekend, November 19-20, 2005 – the weekend before Thanksgiving. Campaign for Human Development supports organizations and issues that are of concern to all Catholics, including the pursuit of social justice, institutional change, enhancement, and empowerment of low-income people and the promotion of family life. CCHD guidelines mandate, among other things, that CCHD funds will be used to support only activities or projects that conform to Catholic teaching. All of the CCHD funded projects within the Arlington Diocese are approved by Bishop Loverde.

Numerous organizations and low-income people in our diocese will benefit from your generous contribution to this collection. Last year over $250,000 was collected in the Arlington Diocese with 25% of this amount remaining in the Diocese for funding five local organizations with local CCHD grants. These grants fund local self-help initiatives to benefit our local communities in various ways:

Organizing tenants to seek recognition by local government of housing needs of low-income persons

Organizing single mothers to seek improved enforcement of delinquent child support payments

Empowerment of Hispanic families by means of language and citizenship training

Demonstration and help to rural teens and their families that will assist them out of poverty

In recent years, two or three organizations within the Arlington Diocese have also received a total of approximately $100,000 annually by applying for national CCHD funding to support anti-poverty projects.

Please be generous in your support of this vital work of the Church. For further information, please call Stephen Luteran, Diocesan Director of CCHD at 703-841-3835.