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CV NEWS FEED // The annual Ash Wednesday Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe will support Catholics suffering from persecution and war, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) stated Feb. 10.
The USCCB launched the Collection in 1990 following St. Pope John Paul II’s call for support in rebuilding the Church in Europe, according to the USCCB press release. The collection this year will go toward support for victims of the Ukrainian war and to ministries in almost 30 countries.
“As the war against Ukraine makes this collection ever more urgent, my prayer is that all Catholics will give generously,” said Bishop Gerald L. Vincke, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.
According to the release, in 2023 the collection distributed $8.75 million in funds to more than 300 projects, including helping the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv transform a retreat center into a shelter and renovate the worn parish house at a Catholic cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia, to support its evangelization and ministry efforts.
“Since 1990, the bishops of the United States have worked closely with Church leaders in nations where Catholics were persecuted, imprisoned or worse because they refused to abandon their faith,” Bishop Vincke said. “Those relationships allow us to deliver pastoral and humanitarian aid quickly and effectively.”
The collection in 2023 also supported missionary religious sisters teaching and serving in Tajikistan, where 98% of people are Muslim, and a ministry for Ukrainian refugees at a Poland-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish.
“That is the kind of ministry-against-all-odds that we read about in the Book of Acts,” Bishop Vincke commented. “Just as the first apostles sought support to reach people who had never heard the Gospel, the U.S. bishops are asking you to support ministry in places where the Catholic faith is little known and the Church has strong faith but few material resources.”
