Collection to support Catholic Campaign for Human Development

In his July 2015 address at the World Meeting of Popular Movements in Bolivia, Pope Francis offered a strong declaration of faith and action.

“Each of us, let repeat from the heart,” he said. “No family without lodging, no rural worker without land, no laborer without rights, no people without sovereignty, no individual without dignity, no child without childhood, no young person without a future, no elderly person without a venerable old age.”

And it is in the spirit of this charge that Church and Diocese of Trenton leaders encourage support for this year’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection, held in most parishes the weekend of Nov. 19 and 20, on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the close of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

The CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of American Catholic bishops, working to garner support to tackle unjust systems and structures, and offering help to those in need. The program works to break the cycle of poverty, according to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, through offering the poor and marginalized a hand up, rather than a hand out.

An estimated 43 million people live in poverty in the United States, according to the USCCB, and the annual collection – held the weekend before Thanksgiving – funds the work of groups that support and empower low-income individuals with the goal of breaking the poverty cycle.

Seventy-five percent of the funds received through the collection are sent to the national CCHD program, which offers grants and provides support to organizations helping individuals around the country. The rest remains in the Diocese. This year, the Diocese has more than $30,000 to distribute.

Organizations are eligible to apply for grants if they are registered as Catholic entities, and past recipients have ranged from Catholic Charities and the Trenton-based Mount Carmel Guild, to parish outreach programs. Initiatives include everything from before-school care to food banks, home nursing programs to utility relief.

Many of the projects supported by CCHD across the country embody the Corporal Works of Mercy, according to the USCCB, including protecting the rights of workers, expanding health care access, and working to address injustices in the criminal justice system.

“The Year of Mercy, a time of extraordinary grace, is also a fitting time for the annual CCHD collection,” said Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, chair of the CCHD Subcommittee of the USCCB. “The Mercy of Jesus is abiding and always urgent. CCHD sustains the Holy Father’s initiative to bring the joy of the gospel to our brothers and sisters living on the margins of American life.”