The Church in Central and Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union will benefit from an annual collection taken up in parishes of the Diocese of Trenton and nationwide on Ash Wednesday Feb. 18.
Now in its 35th year, the collection – sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – provides aid for rebuilding the Church in nearly 30 countries challenged by years of militantly atheistic communist rule and religious persecution, including relief efforts related to the war in Ukraine.
Donations will also help to train seminarians and lay leaders, support social service programs, youth ministry, pastoral and catechetical centers, schools, church construction and renovation, and evangelization through Catholic media.
In recent years, Catholics of the Armenian rite, the Chaldean rite and the Latin rite have been in the process of rebuilding the Church in Georgia since its independence from the Soviet Union, working against challenges of poverty and remote locations.
Bishop Gerald L. Vincke of the Diocese of Salina, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, witnessed the collection’s work in Ukraine last March.
“I visited a shelter for families whose homes were destroyed and an orphanage for children whose parents were killed,” he said. “Veterans I met with expressed their gratitude for therapy they have been able to receive for their post-traumatic stress.
“An elderly man who had survived a Siberian gulag told me, ‘What gives me hope is that, in the end, evil does not win.’” Bishop Vincke continued. “He is right – but that requires all of us to follow Christ’s call to build the kingdom of God. Pope John Paul II knew that in 1990 when he urged Catholics in the United States to join the great rebuilding effort in lands newly liberated from communist oppression – lands from which many of our families had immigrated.”
In 2024, gifts to the collection funded 547 grants totaling more than $9.5 million. Examples of how donations are used include:
– In Kokshetau, Kazakhstan, sisters of the Community of the Beatitudes expanded their mission of evangelization by establishing a day center for preschool children with Down syndrome and their families.
– In the Slovak Republic, a multi-faceted outreach to vulnerable pregnant women provides material assistance, counseling, training in prevention of abuse, and “Evenings of Mercy,” a gathering featuring Mass, Confessions, and healing prayers.
– One of the many projects in Ukraine trains lay leaders in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Exarchate of Lutsk to develop new skills in pastoral and social ministry so they can help bring hope and comfort to people who have lost everything.
“You have rebuilt cathedrals, renewed hope, healed the suffering and brought joy where there had been despair,” Bishop Vincke said. “As these churches continue to heal from old wounds and suffer new ones, it is my hope that you give generously and become part of our ongoing and loving response.”
Additional information on grants and impact is available at www.usccb.org/ccee.
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