Catholics across the U.S. will have the opportunity to make donations this month during the Catholic Relief Services Collection.

“Bring hope to those who do not know how they will survive, who feel alone and no longer believe that anyone cares about them,” Bishop James Wall, chairman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on National Collections said, according to USCCB. “Although you cannot see the recipients, God does. When you give to this collection, you become His instruments of love and mercy.” 

The Catholic Relief Services Collection will be taken up in dioceses across the nation March 18 and 19 in order to aid those who are suffering around the world. The collection may be taken on a different day in certain dioceses, the USCCB said.

The collection not only offers assistance to Catholic Relief Services, but it also finances initiatives for various other ministries. These include the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the Department of Migration and Refugee Services of the USCCB for the resettlement of refugees, the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church of the USCCB, which supports the spread of the Gospel and ministry efforts for immigrants and migrant populations in the U.S., as well as many others.

A few examples of what the funds went toward from the 2021 collection include: the resettling of more than 75,000 Afghan refugees in the U.S., thanks to the efforts of the USCCB's Department of Migration and Refugee Services; the travel of Congolese religious leaders to Washington to discuss measures that can bring peace in an effort to end the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has killed 6 million people; an International Freedom Summit cosponsored by the USCCB's Department of International Justice and Peace, which gathered human rights champions from around the world to Washington; plus many more acts of aid, according to the bishops.

“Whenever you give, your offering is multiplied by thousands of Catholics, bringing Christ’s love through rescue and relief activities to the most vulnerable and marginalized people on earth,” Wall, who is the bishop of Gallup, told USCCB.