Support for CRS Rice Bowl this year is critical, leaders say

Leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s efforts to be in solidarity with and serve poor and marginalized people are imploring local Catholics to give generously to Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten Rice Bowl collection this year.

“It’s especially important this year for us to step up and support CRS where we can to try to fill in the gap to make sure we care for people, because other areas of funding are not available right now to help global communities,” said Jenna Rummelhart, operations director for the archdiocese’s Department of Parish Vitality and Mission.

Lent this year begins with funding for projects supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development suspended, a move that was announced in one of the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, the day he was inaugurated.

CRS is the U.S. bishops’ international humanitarian agency, and according to its most recent annual report, more than half its annual budget came from USAID. In fiscal year 2023, with a budget of nearly $1.5 billion, the agency helped more than 210 million people in 121 countries, in areas including health, agriculture, capacity strengthening, water and sanitation, education and emergency response.

While there have been federal court orders to pause the suspension of USAID funding, and the announcement of waivers to deliver some lifesaving aid, much of the 63-year-old agency has been dismantled and reports indicate that aid is not flowing.

“People still have needs that were being met by CRS,” said Jose Coronel, director of the archdiocese’s Office for Human Dignity and Solidarity and associate director of the Department of Parish Mission and Vitality. “Just because there’s a freeze, that doesn’t mean that the needs are gone.”

In an appeal to supporters to contact their congressional representatives, in early February, CRS posted a sample letter on its website that says, “Without this funding, children are being denied lifesaving medications. People are going hungry. Entire communities don’t have access to shelter or clean water. The situation is dire. For example, the Resilience Food Security Activity in Haiti provides more than 65,000 individuals with food assistance through U.S.-grown commodities and fresh and animal source foods. …

“U.S. farmers, shippers, and research institutions play a key role in delivering aid while earning revenue, creating a win-win situation that stimulates both the U.S. economy and global markets. Through aid, America strengthens trade ties and expands the global reach of its companies. Humanitarian assistance is an essential investment to protect life, uphold human dignity, and pursue sustainable solutions to the world’s toughest challenges.”

The Rice Bowl program, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, encourages families to fast and to donate at least the amount of money they saved to programs that will help the poor and the hungry overseas and in their own dioceses. Participants receive not only the traditional cardboard “rice bowl,” but also educational materials about the people they are helping and suggestions for prayers. Twenty-five percent of Rice Bowl funds are sent back to the dioceses where they were raised to support local anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts.

“Rice Bowl is related to human dignity,” Coronel said. “Our support is to those who are most in need not just overseas but here at a local level. To the poor, the marginalized, to those who need immediate assistance overseas, to those who don’t have water, to those who don’t have food to eat. Our Catholic social teaching is that every human being has a dignity that comes from God, and we need to look out for one another.”

That’s clear, Coronel said, in the parable of the good Samaritan as well as in Chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel, when the Son of Man “comes in his glory” and says, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).

“We have an opportunity to make an incredible impact,” Rummelhart said. “We know the current impact and we have an avenue for action. We can help poor neighbors here and around the world.”

That’s why fasting in solidarity and learning about the people who have received help from CRS is important.

“It helps us to be informed of what the real issues are, or what is happening, the real needs that exist,” she said. “It’s easy to go with the flow and be influenced by what social media says about these experiences. Thus helps us to reflect on our systems that we have in place and how that impacts others around the world and in our communities.”

“It is very easy to forget about the person on the receiving end, when we just give money and that’s all,” Coronel concurred. “When we take time to pray and think about who is receiving that money, that brings us closer to their needs.”

While the archdiocese has not yet received its money from last year’s collection, because the remittances come the following year, Rummelhart said the department has recommended grants totaling $100,000 to eight parishes and other organizations that provide food, support migrants and work in the area of violence prevention.

To learn more and to participate in Operation Rice Bowl, visit pvm.archchicago.org/human-dignity-solidarity/catholic-relief-services/crs-rice-bowl.