St. Anne Catholic Community Catholic Extension
The St. Anne Catholic Community has been generously assisting Catholic Extension funded projects with our Lenten Almsgiving for the past five years. It has been a wonderful partnership—allowing people in our parish to learn about the essential work of Catholic Extension in the more than 90 “mission” dioceses in the United States and, at the same time, one that has provided resources that make possible a myriad of human development projects. The other gratifying thing about working with Catholic Extension has been their commitment to see that we, a “donor parish,” stay connected with and informed about the projects we have funded and the lives that have been touched.
Since 2016, parishioners have given over $162,000 in almsgiving to Catholic Extension!
We are truly grateful for the generosity of so many St. Anne households. As you may recall, last year we had just started into a second year of Church building in Cuba. Then COVID hit and shut down our Almsgiving efforts. We took the money that we had begun receiving and asked Catholic Extension to use it as they saw best, believing that we would return to our Cuba project in 2021.
Well, Lent is upon us and our efforts to build a church in Cuba have again been waylaid—still by COVID, but also by the lack of building supplies in Cuba. So, we asked a question of Catholic Extension: What has been the impact of COVID on the mission dioceses and the work we have helped support in the past? CE’s staff responded with a wealth of information and helped us make our decision. We will direct our 2021 Almsgiving to provide humanitarian aid and support to three of our past projects:
- Migrant Worker Ministry
Diocese of Yakima, Washington - Human Development Project
Diocese of Brownsville, Texas - Redevelopment After Hurricanes Harvey,
Irma and Maria
Diocese of Ponce, Puerto Rico
We will hold off on the Cuba project until we can be more confident of the building materials supply chain to erect a Church for the St. Francis of Assisi community in Pinar del Rio,
Over the next three weeks, we will bring to you updates on these past projects, focusing on the impact of COVID on the lives of people in these three dioceses and how additional funding will be put to work. Due to COVID all alms will be collected through GIVE CENTRAL, which can be accessed on the parish website. Just click on the DONATE tab.