Since 2016, the Catholic Church has observed the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time as a way for Catholics to reflect more deeply on our call to love the poor as our brothers and sisters. On November 15-16, parishes in many Catholic dioceses throughout the United States will observe this year’s World Day of the Poor by taking a collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
CCHD provides crucial support to both growing and longstanding organizations that promote justice, neighborhood improvement, and job creation for marginalized groups in both urban and rural communities across the United States. While CCHD grant recipients include nonsectarian, ecumenical, and interreligious organizations, all must abide by Catholic moral teaching, including respect for human life from conception until natural death and prioritizing the concerns of the poor.
“World Day of the Poor is an invitation for us to pray and to act, to build a world that truly recognizes the God-given dignity of our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable,” Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, said. Click here to read more.