WASHINGTON—The
annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal
will be held in most parishes across the country on the weekend of April 29-30
with the theme Strengthening the Church
at Home. This appeal supports over 40 percent of dioceses and eparchies in
the United States and its territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.

“For
many dioceses it is challenging to support ministries because of fragile
financial situations or isolated communities,” said Archbishop Paul D. Etienne
of Anchorage, Alaska, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’
Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. “It is through the Catholic Home
Missions Appeal that we can make a difference here at home and help our mission
dioceses offer places for people to encounter the loving and merciful Christ.”

In
2016, the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions allocated over $9 million to
84 dioceses for programs of evangelization, Hispanic ministry, seminary
education, lay ministry formation and other essential pastoral ministries. The
Subcommittee oversees the collection and an annual grant program as part of the
USCCB Committee on National Collections.

Shareable
resources for the collection can be found at: www.usccb.org/home-missions/collection.

The
home page for the collection can be found at www.usccb.org/home-missions. Additional
resources on the collection and the projects it supports include an interactive map, videos about the
home missions
and an annual report.

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Keywords: National
Collections, Catholic Home Missions Appeal, U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, USCCB, ministry, Catholic Home Missions Appeal, missionary work,
evangelization, Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, Archbishop Paul D.
Etienne, religious education, priests, seminarians, religious formation, lay
ministry

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Norma Montenegro Flynn
O: 202-541-3200

Source:: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops