Catholic Relief Services in the News

Pope Expresses Deep Sadness Over Cyclone's Destruction in Myanmar: Pope Benedict XVI expressed deep sadness and "heartfelt sympathy" after hearing news of "the tragic aftermath" of Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands in Myanmar.; source: Catholic News Service, May 2008
Congress Seeks Faster Food Aid: While a new proposal by President George W. Bush to provide an additional $770 million in foreign food aid won plaudits from relief agencies, it has sown confusion in Congress, where members criticized the package as a plan with too many strings attached.; source: Chicago Tribune, May 2008
Hunger Stalks Globe AS Aid Groups Forced to Cut: "This is an unprecedented crisis for us, because it's global," said Lisa Kuennen-Asfaw, of Catholic Relief Services -- a crisis felt in most of the 100 places CRS works.; source: Reuters, May 2008
Bush Proposes $770 Million for World Food Crisis: Some aid groups and U.S. lawmakers are clamoring for more assistance immediately. The administration has already requested supplemental food aid funding, a perennial addition to annual budget funds, of $350 million for fiscal 2008, but some are pushing for a figure at least $200 million higher. The United States typically provides about $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion in food aid each year through the U.S. Agency for International Development. "As a humanitarian organization interested in saving lives, we are not sure these resources equip us to meet the needs now," said Catholic Relief Services, an aid group.; source: Reuters, May 2008
Surplus U.S. Food Supplies Dry Up: Food aid "is going to have to be significantly higher if we're going to continue to play the role we've played in the past; … $117 million is not much," says Lisa Kuennen-Asfaw of Catholic Relief Services.; source: USA Today, May 2008
How to Help (World Food Price Crisis): CRS focuses on international aid and has a Food Security program that aims to alleviate hunger through short-, medium- and long-term initiatives. Donate via its Web site, http://www.crs.org, call 800-736-3467, or mail a check to Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD 21203-7090.; source: Washington Post, April 2008
Israeli, Palestinian Find Common Ground in Grief, Hope: Rami Elhanan and Mazen Faraj live on different sides of the controversial concrete wall separating Israelis from Palestinians. But they have found common ground.; source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 2008
Experts Say High Food Prices Permanent; Bishops Urge Help for Poor: As protests over rising food costs spread around the globe, experts warn that high prices are here to stay, and Catholic bishops are calling for governments to take emergency measures to keep their poorest citizens from going hungry. The price increases are fueled by a variety of factors that "are all coming together at once," said Lisa Kuennen, director of the public resource group at Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency.; source: Catholic News Service, April 2008
Rising Food Prices Highlight Controversy Over Biofuels: Calculating the exact impact of biofuel production on food price hikes is difficult. Despite the attention to biofuels as a factor in recent price increases, it probably had less of an impact than drought and other factors, said Lisa Kuennen of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency.; source: Catholic News Service, April 2008
Doctor Brings Attention to Chaos in the Congo: When Mukwege opens the doors at Panzi Hospital, he knows that at the end of the day, 10 women lucky enough to be alive will have been counseled and had surgery for their injuries. Many others, however, never make the trip to the doctor.; source: Baltimore Sun, April 2008
Volunteer Couple Leave Africa, But Kids Remain in Their Hearts: It had been months since she and her husband, Anselm, arrived as volunteers for Catholic Relief Services in the West African nation and they had grown accustomed to the hunger, poverty and daily funerals in the town. But the sound of a child laughing stopped them in their tracks.; source: Los Angeles Daily News, April 2008
U.S. Organizations Need Help to Feed More in Haiti: Catholic Relief Services got a request last week from its partner, Missionaries of Charity in Gonvaives, Haiti, for more money to feed an additional 2,000 people. Currently, the charity feeds 1,200 people a month with lentils, wheat, cooking oil and corn, but it's facing more demand. The Catholic Relief Services is appealing for private donations to meet the short-term demands of more food, and long-term demands of more local food production, organizers said.; source: Miami Herald, April 2008
Haiti's Rising Cost of Food Worries Aid Groups: Haitians who live on less than two dollars a day rely on food aid and other assistance from abroad. Catholic Relief Services is one of several organizations that seeks to aid working poor, handicapped and other residents.; source: Voice of America, April 2008
Aid Worker Reflects On Catholic Relief in Africa AS Pope Visits Us: Lori Kunze, CRS deputy director for East Africa, says her organization is involved in various anti-poverty and humanitarian programs throughout Africa, including initiatives aimed at providing people with access to clean water, good agricultural practices and emergency relief. But Kunze says “by far the largest” of CRS projects in Africa is its response to the continent’s HIV/AIDS pandemic in six of the countries worst affected.; source: Voice of America, April 2008
Aid Sector Sees Lingering Woes in Food Aid Crunch: A deepening global food crisis requires not only greater funding for food aid going to hungry nations, but long-term investment to improve agriculture productivity, especially in the developing world, officials and aid groups said on Monday.; source: Reuters, April 2008
Haiti Aid Workers Fear Widening Hunger: As prices increase, desperation is spreading from the slums to Haiti's working poor, part of the impetus for this week's demonstrations, said Bill Canny of Catholic Relief Services.; source: Associated Press, April 2008
Syrian, Jordanian Diplomats Urge U.S. to Share Iraqi Refugee Burden: Mark Schnellbaecher, Middle East regional director for the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services, described the situation as the "flight of moderation" from Iraq because the refugees are Iraq's educated and middle class.; source: Catholic News Service, April 2008
Iraq's Refugees Becoming Desperate: More than two million Iraqi refugees are struggling to survive outside Iraq, the bulk of them in neighboring Jordan and Syria. Only a small percentage are rich former Baathist supporters of Saddam Hussein. Most are middle-class Iraqis, including thousands of Christians, who were 'ethnically cleansed' from urban neighborhoods and forced to flee for their lives.; source: Miami Herald, April 2008
Peace Train Sounding Louder: Peace is a precious commodity. Especially in a time of war and conflict, an act of peace — even on the smallest scale — brings a sense of hope.; source: University of San Diego Magazine, March 2008
Hollywood Stars Help Sustain Darfur Aid Flights: Wfp: Securing long-term funding for humanitarian flights in Sudan is essential, 14 international aid agencies said in a joint statement issued on Friday. The agencies -- which include CARE Sudan, Catholic Relief Services and Oxfam International -- said that they rely on the WFP's air service to help them deliver aid to "many of the most inaccessible, insecure and poverty-stricken areas of Sudan."; source: New York Times, March 2008
Church Leaders Say Rape Is Used AS Weapon of War in Congo: Leaders of the religious congregations working in eastern Congo's Katanga province said they "cannot remain silent" in the face of "all kinds of violence, repeated cases of sexual abuse, and the total lack of respect for the lives of our brothers and sisters."; source: Catholic News Service, March 2008
Miraculous Efforts in Africa Must Continue: There's a miracle happening in Africa right now, and I've had the good fortune to see it.; source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, March 2008
Soaring Food Prices Putting U.S. Emergency Aid in Peril: The U.S. government's humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world's poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said.; source: Washington Post , March 2008
Authorities Release A Dozen Iraqis in A Move the Could Lead to the Freedom of Hundreds: Lebanon on Friday released 13 Iraqi citizens detained for staying illegally in the country, following mediation by the U.N. refugee agency and a Christian aid group, in a move expected to lead to further releases.; source: International Herald Tribune, February 2008
More Than Coins in A Cardboard Box: The third–graders in Christina Myers’ class at St. John the Evangelist School don’t know a whole lot about the daily lives of children in the faraway countries of Guatemala, India, Mali, Haiti and Cameroon that this year’s Operation Rice Bowl focuses on, but they can really relate to not having access to utilities, food, clean water and shelter.; source: Florida Catholic, February 2008
Philippine Colonel Helps Launch Quiet Revolution for Peace-Building: When Col. Pedro Soria walked into his first seminar on peace-building, his classmates eyed him suspiciously, wondering if the Philippine army officer was there to spy on them. But Soria stayed for the two-week course, winning the confidence of his fellow students and helping launch a quiet revolution with the Philippine military.; source: Catholic News Service, February 2008
CRS Program for Doctors in Congo Helps Ease Plight of Female Victims: A church-run training program for rural doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo has helped ease the plight of women in the war-torn eastern region where sexual violence is common, an aid worker said.; source: Catholic News Service, February 2008
Students Learn True Meaning of Hunger: Hunger now has a face for many students at St. Scholastica Academy in Covington. On Feb. 11, Thomas Awiapo of Ghana, in West Africa, spoke to the girls, along with some students from Pope John Paul II High School in Slidell.; source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 2008
Newsmakers: Arlene Flaherty, Catholic Relief Services (Video File): Pat Ciarrocchi talks to Arlene Flaherty of Catholic Relief Services about the plight of refugees in Iraq.; source: CBS - Philadelphia affiliate - local channel 3, February 2008
Operation Rice Bowl Is the Other 'Super' Bowl: The national gridiron competition between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants Feb. 3 might have monopolized the conversation in many households, but it was briefly intercepted by another bowl among families at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox. Instead of passing around bowls of chips, the parish’s peace and social justice committee distributed cardboard bowl-shaped containers for donations to Operation Rice Bowl, which alleviates poverty locally and globally. Scorecards were replaced with calendars, offering education about the world’s poor and suggesting activities to assist them.; source: Catholic Explorer, February 2008
Refugees From Chad Face Desperate Situation, Says CRS Spokesman: Thousands of people who fled Chad to neighboring Cameroon after rebel fighting in early February are in a desperate situation without any infrastructure to support them, said a spokesman for the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services.; source: Catholic News Service, February 2008
30,000 Fleeing Chad Find Safety, Little Comfort in Cameroon: "The situation in Kousseri is really quite serious," Jennifer Nazaire, the representative for Catholic Relief Services in Cameroon, said Wednesday. "Chadians are pouring out of N'Djamena, and there's little set up to receive them at the moment. The Catholic Church in Kousseri, the local government, United Nations, and aid agencies are all scrambling to work out temporary and longer-term measures to host people."; source: Boston Globe, February 2008
Reprieve in Chad Gives Thousands A Chance to Flee: Thousands of residents poured out of N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, on Monday as clashes between rebel and government forces cooled after two days of combat, according to reports from the besieged city. "We have a lot of injured and dead people in town," said Christophe Droeven, Chad representative for the aid group Catholic Relief Services. He spoke from Belgium, to which he was evacuated over the weekend, but has kept in close contact with staff members in Chad.; source: Washington Post , February 2008
Catholic Relief Services in the Gaza Strip (Audio File): The country representative for Catholic Relief Services in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza is Tom Garafalo.; source: Vatican Radio, January 2008
Priest-Performer Brings Broader Tale to Life On the Stage: More than 500 people are expected to attend the 46th annual Southwest Liturgical Conference Study Week, which is being held in Tucson for the first time. The theme is "Eucharist and Justice: Walking in Charity and Peace." Speakers at the gathering will include Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, Archbishop of Atlanta Wilton Gregory and the Rev. Maxwell E. Johnson, a professor of liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame.; source: Arizona Star, January 2008
Kenya Crisis Death Toll Seen at Around 600: The death toll in Kenya has risen to about 600 from more than two weeks of unrest since President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election, aid agencies said on Monday.; source: Reuters, January 2008
Ex-D.C. Cardinal Assesses Plight: Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, visited the Latin monastery in Gaza City yesterday while President Bush met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Cardinal McCarrick sat with the Rev. Manuel Musallem, leader of the Catholic community in Gaza, local and U.S. officials from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and other community members on a pastoral visit.; source: The Washington Times, LLC., January 2008
Kenyan Bishop Says His Appeals for Aid Have Been Met Quickly: Bishop Cornelius Arap Korir of Eldoret told Catholic News Service things gradually were taking shape as agencies such as the United Nations, the Kenyan government, the Red Cross and other churches were joining Catholic relief agencies in sending financial and material assistance.; source: Catholic News Service, January 2008
On the Road, With A Mission: Humanitarian Workers Return Home to Steamboat Springs for the Holidays: Simpson-Hebert is the regional health adviser for Catholic Relief Services. Based in Ethiopia, she said her role is to help enhance health programs that reach communities who are most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS.; source: Steamboat Pilot & Today, December 2007
Bishop Returns From Spending World AIDS Day in Africa: Seated in the comfort of his office at the Helena Diocese, Bishop George Thomas smiled when reflecting upon his recent trip to Senegal, where he received a crash course in micro-financing and spent World AIDS Day visiting AIDS-infected patients. The international organization offers micro-loans to impoverished African women, creates dialogue between Christians and Muslims, and promotes AIDS education and care to those inflicted with the virus.; source: Helena Independent Record, December 2007
Left Behind: Amid Immigration Debate, Children Are Forgotten: More and more children in Central America are being raised by people other than their parents, DeLorey told Catholic News Service. Those who are raised by extended families miss direct contact with their parents, she said, while those who are left with neighbors may end up on the street or in gangs.; source: Catholic News Service, December 2007
Student Spotlight: Philadelphia Inquirer Profiles CRS Intern: As a Catholic Relief Services intern, Bangs, 22, traveled to Ethiopia for nine weeks this summer to research the progress of a Nike Foundation program aimed at empowering adolescent girls in the Tigray and Oromia regions.; source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2007
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel On New CRS Board President: Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, who was appointed board chairman of a major Catholic relief agency this week, has a lot on his plate these days in addition to his normal duties as archbishop and a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.; source: Journal Sentinel Inc., December 2007