CCHD 2024
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“The World Day of the Poor. . . is a pastoral opportunity not to be underestimated, for it challenges every believer to listen to the prayer of the poor, becoming aware of their presence and needs. (Pope Francis, Message for the Eighth Annual World Day of the Poor 2024)
November 14, 2024My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
For tens of millions of Americans, there is a thin line between eviction and home, between hunger and health, between unemployment and work, between anxiety and stability. This line is the Poverty Line. Nationally, for a family of four, that line is $31,200 a year.
Since 1969, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has addressed poverty by attacking its causes and funding community projects that promote independence as a means of finding a permanent end to poverty. That’s why the CCHD theme is “Help Those on the Margins.” This collection is the primary source of funding for local and national anti-poverty grants and education programs.
This year, seventy-five percent of the collection will stay here in our diocese. Each November I meet with our parish and community groups which receive local grants from the previous year’s collection. It is always inspiring to see how these 20 to 24 small grants blossom into effective programs to support the dignity of people who find themselves most often on the margins. Given the increasing number of working poor in our communities, the need has increased dramatically in the many food pantries and emergency assistance programs in our parishes and Catholic agencies which receive support from our local CCHD funds.
Please help the efforts of CCHD to break the cycle of poverty. We are “working on the margins” in Central Massachusetts and across America. Support the CCHD Collection on November 23 & 24 as a response to the Eighth Annual World Day of the Poor on Sunday, November 17 as called for by Pope Francis. For more information about CCHD and the scope of poverty in America, please visit www.usccb.org/cchd.
With every prayerful best wish, I remainSincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Robert J. McManus
Bishop of Worcester