The Diocese of Trenton will join with dioceses across the nation to take up the annual Peter’s Pence Collection at all Masses the weekend of June 29-30. Funds from this collection support Pope Francis’ charitable outreach to the suffering and marginalized around the world. The proceeds benefit people on the margins of society, including victims of war, oppression, and natural disasters.
“Pope Francis continues an ancient tradition of the Church of distributing the material support of disciples to those most in need. When we support the Peter’s Pence Collection, we, as members of the Catholic Church, unite ourselves to the concerns of the Holy Father,” said Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, chairman of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. “I am grateful to the faithful of the United States for their steadfast support and generosity.”
The Peter’s Pence Collection derives its name from an ancient custom dating from ninth-century England during which King Alfred the Great collected money, a “pence,” from landowners as financial support for the Pope. Today, the Peter’s Pence Collection gives the Holy Father the means to provide emergency assistance to those in need due to natural disaster, war, oppression and disease.
For example, in the Ethiopian Dioceses of Embeder, Harar and Mek, residents rely exclusively on subsistence farming and nomadic herding. The El Niño weather pattern has worsened drought conditions there, and people fear a new famine that could be far worse than the one in 1984 which led to more than a million deaths in Ethiopia. Through the Peter’s Pence Collection, the Holy Father has helped bring aid to the affected villages by funding food and medicines that give the Ethiopian people a measure of relief and hope.
The USCCB National Collections Committee oversees the promotion of the Peter’s Pence Collection, which, to date, has raised nearly $190 million in aid.
More information about the collection can be found at usccb.org/ppc, or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Donations can be mailed directly to Peter’s Pence Collection, The Apostolic Nunciature, 3339 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008.