WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Church in Latin America has announced January 25-26 as the weekend for the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America. Dioceses may elect a different date to take up the collection to avoid conflict with local activities. For more than 50 years, the collection has been a sign of solidarity between Catholics of the United States and those in Latin America and the Caribbean by funding pastoral programs, seminarian and religious formation, and youth and family ministries.

For example, Caritas Argentina is a nonprofit that empowers more than 150 young Catholics to live out their faith in the service of those who are poor and excluded from society by training them in pastoral ministry to evangelize their local communities and share their faith throughout Argentina. The Church in Latin America collection also provided invaluable assistance to 235 youth from Haiti to attend World Youth Day 2019 in Panama and hear the Holy Father’s words of hope and mercy.

“The love of Christ compels us to share our faith and support all people who long to grow closer to Jesus. The Collection for the Church in Latin America expresses our solidarity with and love for the people of Latin America,” said Bishop Octavio Cisneros, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn and chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America. “On behalf of the subcommittee, I wish to express my abiding gratitude to the people of the United States who generously support the collection each year and, through it, our brothers and sisters throughout the region.”

In November 2019, the Subcommittee for the Church in Latin America awarded nearly $4.2 million in grants to support the Church in Latin America and Caribbean, including areas ravaged by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Information about the Collection for the Church in Latin America, including the 2018 annual report, may be found at www. usccb.org/latin-america. Access to promotional resources in English and Spanish for use in parishes to promote the national collection are located at www.usccb.org/latin-america2020.

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Keywords: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Collection for the Church in Latin America, Bishop Octavio Cisneros, Subcommittee for the Church in Latin America, annual collection.

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