INFANCIA MISIONERA

La Obra de Infancia Misionera es una institución de la Iglesia universal que promueve la ayuda recíproca entre los niños del mundo. Miles de pequeños de los cinco continentes participan en esta Obra Pontificia, que tiene como lema "Los niños ayudan a los niños".

La Obra de la Infancia Misionera constituye “una verdadera red de solidaridad humana y espiritual entre los niños de los antiguos y nuevos continentes” (Juan Pablo II). Con su oración y su colaboración económica los niños ponen su granito de arena para transformar el mundo con el mensaje alegre y esperanzador del Evangelio y experimentan lo que es ser “pequeños misioneros”.

Asociación Cultural Apostolado San José

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Apostolado San José, es una Asociación Cultural católica, sin ánimo de lucro, y benéfica, que intenta hacer el bien de la forma siguiente.

1.- Esta Asociación, quiere facilitar una serie de libros de lectura espiritual, para poder extender la cultura religiosa. Hoy que vivimos en crisis casi de todo, no es poca la que sufrimos los cristianos en nuestra fe y en la práctica religiosa.

2.- Comprobando que muchas de las publicaciones religiosas son caras, en la medida de lo posible, se procurará la venta de estos libros a precios más baratos. Pero, con un el fin también de poder enviar gratuitamente libros y folletos a los países del Tercer mundo, a los más pobres, que pocas veces esta a su alcance.

3.- Esta Asociación quiere dar otro fin. Los beneficios de la venta, junto con la recaudación periódica de fondos a través de las cuotas de los socios colaboradores. Y otros posibles donativos o cuotas particulares voluntarias. Se destinará a proyectos de cooperación y ayuda con los países más subdesarrollados.

En estas tierras de Ávila donde estamos, también se lo confiamos a Santa Teresa de Jesús que decía: "Diome la vida haber quedado amiga de buenos libros". (Vida 3,7)

The Gesundheit Institute

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The Gesundheit! Institute, a not-for-profit health care organization chartered under the Nonprofit Corporation Act of the District of Columbia, is a project in holistic medical care based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, the world, and the health care system itself.

Gesundheit’s model is designed to protect care as the core of the medical interaction.

Our model is organized around these principles:

Care is free.
Patients are treated as friends.
Ample time is given to the care interaction (e.g. initial interviews with patients are 3 hours long).
All complementary medicine is welcomed.
The health of the staff is as important as the health of the patients.
Care is infused with fun and play.
Members of the Institute are health practitioners and health educators. Gesundheit’s intention is to model creative problem solving and to spark each medical facility to design their own ideal - to deliver health care in a context that is our ideal design and educate other health care practitioners to design their ideal models for care.

In its 40-year history, Gesundheit has offered care to tens of thousands, given workshops and lectures in over 65 countries, built and supported clinics, schools, and orphanages from El Salvador to Cambodia, and brought the joy of clowning to parts of the world damaged by violence and injustice.

Salesian Lay Missioners, Finding Christ in the Face of a Child

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About

The Salesian Lay Missioner (SLM) program traces its roots back to 1981, when Fr. Dominic DeBlase, SDB asked Fr. A. Joseph Louis, SDB to study the feasibility of beginning a lay volunteer program to help the Salesians in their various works throughout the world. The idea was to have lay people work alongside Salesians teaching in their schools, oratories, youth centers, and orphanages. Several international site visits, various interviews, and two years later, Fr. Louis sent out the first SLM to Colombia to work with the street children.

Since that time, more than 350 men and women have been sent to over 20 countries to work on projects ranging from youth ministry to agriculture and nursing.

Each year the SLM program expands to serve more of the world’s underprivileged youth. As times change, so do the needs and the site placements. We are asked by Salesian communities on a yearly basis to send volunteers to places all over the world: from the jungles of Papua New Guinea to the frozen lands of Mongolia.

And each year we carefully look at the sites to see where the most needs are.

FAST, Fe, Arte, Solidaridad y... Tú

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Qué es FAST?

FAST significa “Fe, Arte, Solidaridad y Tú”. Se trata de una revista, o de un blog (o más bien las dos cosas) en donde queremos ofrecer reflexiones, opiniones, noticias sobre lo que sucede más allá de nuestro ombligo.

Trataremos de compartir nuestra visión de esa realidad, lo poco o mucho que podemos aportar, lo que mucha gente solidaria está haciendo por cambiarla, lo que la fe cristiana nos impulsa a hacer por los demás, lo que nosotros y otros creyentes tratamos de ofrecer en clave de gratuidad y solidaridad, desde el arte y otras muchas expresiones e iniciativas.

Somos un pequeño grupo de creyentes (religiosos, laicos, sacerdotes) que trata de profundizar en la fe, de proponerla positivamente a la sociedad, de acercar la Buena Noticia a la gente desde la plataforma de internet.

En nuestra web tratamos de reflexionar sobre lo que ocurre en nuestro mundo, en nuestra Iglesia Católica, apoyar aquellas iniciativas que promueven los valores del Evangelio y a la vez ser críticos con aquello que no construye fraternidad ni Reino de Dios.

Nada de esto tendría sentido sin lectores, sin gente que dedique unos minutillos a leer este blog, a añadir sus comentarios, sus sugerencias, sus vivencias. Por eso, aquí el más importante eres TÚ. Así que, sin más, comienza la función, que no es “El gran teatro del mundo” (de Calderón de la Barca), sino la VIDA misma, vista con nuestras gafas y las vuestras. BIENVENIDO a FAST!!

Catholic Youth, Care for Creation, Care for the Poor

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Youth Leading the Way: Stewardship and Solidarity

Foundational principles in Catholic Social Teaching and thought are stewardship and solidarity. As committed Catholics, and disciples of Jesus Christ, our faith commits us to act and advocate for the least ones among us. The call to solidarity requires that we consider how our individual and collective attitudes and actions impact our care for the poor. Being good stewards of all that we have received from the Lord: individual gifts and talents and well as the Earth and its resources, is a fundamental Catholic value. As a Catholic community we have been challenged by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to embrace three core principles: prudence, poverty, and the common good in relationship to the ongoing concern of climate change.

"Una sociedad que es capaz de censar aves rapaces y sin embargo cuestiona censar a sus iguales, es decir, a personas que por ser emigrantes no pierden su dignidad humana, es una sociedad equivocada", Maria Aurora de Santiago, Rev. Sagrada Familia.

"Cuando doy limosna a los pobres me dicen que soy santo, pero cuando pregunto por qué hay pobres me dicen que soy comunista", Helder Camara

"El dinero es un buen criado pero un mal amo", Francis Bacon

The Catholic Work Movement

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The general aim of the Catholic Worker Movement is to realize in the individual and in society the expressed and implied teachings of Christ. It must, therefore, begin with an analysis of our present society to determine whether we already have an order that meets with the requirements of justice and charity of Christ.
The society in which we live and which is generally called capitalist (because of its method of producing wealth) and bourgeois (because of the prevalent mentality) is not in accord with justice and charity –

IN ECONOMICS – because the guiding principles is production for profit and because production determines needs. A just order would provide the necessities of life for all, and needs would determine what would be produced. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Today we have a non-producing class which is maintained by the labor of others with the consequence that the laborer is systematically robbed of that wealth which he produces over and above what is need for his bare maintenance.

IN PSYCHOLOGY – because capitalist society fails to take in the whole nature of man but rather regards him as an economic factor in production. He is an item in the expense sheet of the employer. Profit determines what type of work he shall do. Hence, the deadly routine of assembly lines and the whole mode of factory production. In a just order the question will be whether a certain type of work is in accord with human values, not whether it will bring a profit to the exploiters of labor.

IN MORALS – because capitalism is maintained by class war. Since the aim of the capitalist employer is to obtain labor as cheaply as possible and the aim of labor is to sell itself as dearly as possible and buy the products produced as cheaply as possible there is an inevitable and persistent conflict which can only be overcome when the capitalist ceases to exist as a class. When there is but one class the members perform different functions but there is no longer an employer-wage-earner relationship.

TO ACHIEVE THIS SOCIETY WE ADVOCATE:

A complete rejection of the present social order and a non-violent revolution to establish an order more in accord with Christian values. This can only be done by direct action since political means have failed as a method for bringing about this society. Therefore we advocate a personalism which takes on ourselves responsibility for changing conditions to the extent that we are able to do so. By establishing Houses of Hospitality we can take care of as many of those in need as we can rather than turn them over to the impersonal "charity" of the State. We do not do this in order to patch up the wrecks of the capitalist system but rather because there is always a shared responsibility in these things and the call to minister to our brother transcends any consideration of economics. We feel that what anyone possesses beyond basic needs does not belong to him but rather to the poor who are without it.

We believe in a withdrawal from the capitalist system so far as each one is able to do so. Toward this end we favor the establishment of a Distributist economy wherein those who have a vocation to the land will work on the farms surrounding the village and those who have other vocations will work in the village itself. In this way we will have a decentralized economy which will dispense with the State as we know it and will be federationist in character as was society during certain periods that preceded the rise of national states.

We believe in worker-ownership of the means of production and distribution, as distinguished from nationalization. This to be accomplished by decentralized co-operatives and the elimination of a distinct employer class. It is revolution from below and not (as political revolutions are) from above. It calls for widespread and universal ownership by all men of property as a stepping stone to a communism that will be in accord with the Christian teaching of detachment from material goods and which, when realized, will express itself in common ownership. "Property, the more common it is, the more holy it is," St. Gertrude writes.

We believe in the complete equality of all men as brothers under the Fatherhood of God. Racism in any form is blasphemy against God who created all mankind in His image and who offers redemption to all. Man comes to God freely or not at all and it is not the function of any man or institution to force the Faith on anyone. Persecution of any people is therefore a serious sin and denial of free will.

We believe further that the revolution that is to be pursued in ourselves and in society must be pacifist. Otherwise it will proceed by force and use means that are evil and which will never be outgrown, so that they will determine the END of the revolution and that end will again be tyranny. We believe that Christ went beyond natural ethics and the Old Dispensation in this matter of force and war and taught non-violence as a way of life. So that when we fight tyranny and injustice and the class war we must do so by spiritual weapons and by non-cooperation. Refusal to pay taxes, refusal to register for conscription, refusal to take part in civil-defense drills, non-violent strikes, withdrawal from the system are all methods that can be employed in this fight for justice.

We believe that success, as the world determines it, is not the criterion by which a movement should be judged. We must be prepared and ready to face seeming failure. The most important thing is that we adhere to these values which transcend time and for which we will be asked a personal accounting, not as to whether they succeeded (though we should hope that they do) but as to whether we remained true to them even though the whole world go otherwise.

Pueblos, revista de información y debate

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Quiénes somos

Pueblos es una apuesta por la solidaridad que ofrece una mirada crítica sobre las diferentes realidades sociales, políticas, económicas y culturales del mundo. Editada por Paz con Dignidad, busca consolidar un instrumento de comunicación que sirva para fortalecer e impulsar nexos entre organizaciones del Norte y del Sur que trabajan en procesos de transformación social.

Fundada en 1995 (segunda época, 2002), cada año se publican cuatro números impresos ordinarios de Pueblos (enero, abril, julio y octubre) y al menos un especial.

Todos o prácticamente todos los artículos publicados en la edición impresa son originales, y la revista no se hace responsable de las opiniones de los autores y autoras de los artículos.

Los contenidos de Pueblos – Revista de Información y Debate están bajo una licencia de Creative Commons 3.0. Los contenidos pueden ser utilizados de acuerdo a los términos de la licencia “Reconocimiento – No comercial – Sin obras derivadas 3.0 España License de Creative Commons”.

PRINCIPIOS EDITORIALES

Pueblos se define como una publicación de información y debate, con vocación internacional. Quiere ser una apuesta comprometida por la solidaridad, la cooperación, la interculturalidad y, en definitiva, por el entendimiento entre los pueblos. En sus páginas tendrán cabida artículos de reflexión, documentados, con el fin de lograr un análisis crítico y contextualizado de los procesos sociales.

1. Independencia. Pueblos rechazará cualquier influencia de personas y organizaciones cuyos intereses estén en abierta contradicción con los objetivos antes señalados. Esta publicación está formada por un Consejo Editorial, aval intelectual de la revista; un grupo de entidades colaboradoras y un Consejo de Redacción, que coordina los contenidos y la producción de cada número. Ambos Consejos no suscriben necesariamente las opiniones de las y los colaboradores de Pueblos.

2. Solidaridad. Esta publicación entiende la solidaridad como un motor de cambio para la ruptura de las relaciones de dominación Norte-Sur. Se configura, por tanto, como un proyecto político y social, y nunca como un acercamiento ambiguo a los problemas de “los otros”.

3. Horizontalidad. Este proyecto de comunicación, que quiere estar imbricado en la sociedad, contempla la producción de información y opinión como un proceso transversal, en el que no hay una voz que cuenta y unos lectores que escuchan, sino un grupo de interlocutores con capacidad para “contarse”. Tiene vocación de ser un nexo en el amplio tejido de los movimientos sociales y una tribuna desde la que analizar las nuevas realidades que nos rodean. La apuesta: desdibujar los vínculos de dominación que construyen los binomios Norte-Sur y autor/a-lector/a.

4. Responsabilidad. Las y los redactores de la revista se comprometen a respetar el contenido y estilo de los artículos de las personas colaboradoras sin perjuicio de que, por razones de espacio o dificultad de entendimiento, puedan realizar pequeñas modificaciones en el proceso de edición. El diseño estará al servicio del contenido.

5. Tratamiento gráfico. Las fotografías e ilustraciones que acompañen a los artículos serán seleccionadas o creadas con el fin de aportar una visión más amplia y original sobre el asunto tratado.

6. Publicidad. Esta publicación sólo incluirá publicidad de entidades públicas o privadas cuyo contenido esté en relación con la línea editorial de Pueblos.

7. Compromiso. Pueblos se compromete a defender todos y cada uno de los puntos antes citados con el fin de lograr asentar un proyecto de comunicación coherente en forma y contenido.

Photophilanthropy

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Overview

PhotoPhilanthropy is a photography organization with expertise in using images that help nonprofits advocate for their cause, and uniting photographers and nonprofits to tell powerful stories of social change.
Many photographers, ranging from professionals to students, seek ways to effect social change. Many nonprofits working to drive social change are better served to tell their stories through the use of high quality photography.

We believe that by building effective partnerships, photographers and nonprofits can help drive that change. PhotoPhilanthropy is founded on the shared passion for change among nonprofits, photographers and an engaged public and our programs are designed to reflect this passion and to provide our stakeholders with a framework, resources and support to realize their collective vision for change.

Mission

We address critical social and environmental issues by providing photographers and nonprofits with the resources to work together to create images that drive social change around the world.

Values

We are governed by a set of core values that shape our culture, define the character of our organization and guide how we behave and how we make decisions.

Passion

We are idealistic, bold thinkers obsessed with building a better, stronger and more durable organization to improve communities and ‘move the needle’ on the most important social issues of our time.

Discipline

Taking personal and organizational responsibility to achieve our goals with a sense of rigor, focus and urgency, we work in a responsive and efficient manner to support our community.

Integrity

We believe in being ethically unyielding, respectful, open and honest to inspire trust in our community, and ensure alignment between our actions and our beliefs.

Oxfam International

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About us

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.

We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them.

What we do

Find out how we work with others to end poverty and injustice, from campaigning to responding to emergencies.

How we fight poverty

Using a six-sided strategy to weave together the complex web of our efforts and joining with others, we seek to overcome poverty.

Why we do it

We believe that respect for human rights will help lift people out of poverty.

From 2013-2019, our work to achieve a just world without poverty will be guided by our Strategic Plan The Power of People Against Poverty.

Work for Oxfam

Looking for a rewarding career? A fulfilling internship? Have time to volunteer?

Development and Peace

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About Us

Development and Peace (The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace) is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian member of Caritas Internationalis. Development and Peace is a membership led organization supported by parish collections, individual donations and government grants, principally from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Our vision: Committed to change

Our mission: Support partners in the Global South who promote alternatives to unfair social, political and economic structures. It educates the Canadian population about the causes of poverty and mobilizes Canadians towards actions for change. In the struggle for human dignity, the organization forms alliances with northern and southern groups working for social change. It also supports women in their search for social and economic justice.

Our action: For over 40 years, Development and Peace has supported 15,200 local initiatives in fields such as agriculture, education, community action as well as the consolidation of peace and advocacy for human rights in 70 countries.

Our belief: We believe that Canadians of all religious beliefs have a responsibility to help the world's poor and disadvantaged, either by urging governments, corporations and others to implement change, or by donating time or money to support development efforts.

We are a democratic movement: We depend on the commitment of thousands of Canadians determined to support the poor in their struggle for justice in the Global South. We draw our strength from our 13,000 members in Canada. Our work is supervised by a 22-member National Council composed of volunteers and two representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Our global and Canadian partners: We collaborate with global and domestic partners to help carry out our mission. The support these partners provide helps in building an international solidarity movement. Caritas Internationalis, International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE), Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC), KAIROS.

Economía Solidaria

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El Portal de Economía Solidaria es un espacio dirigido a todos los sectores sociales, económicos, políticos y particulares como lugar de encuentro, reflexión, participación, adhesión, y comunicación sobre estructuras económicas solidarias con el "ser humano", la sociedad y el planeta.

Existen una mayoría de problemas sociales que tienen el origen en no adaptar los objetivos y las estructuras a las personas, sino a la inversa.

La economía ha terminado siendo el fín en vez de ser el medio para conseguir una calidad de vida de toda la sociedad. La competitividad exige una velocidad, y un sistema a costa, justo de lo que se dice se quiere conseguir el estado del bienestar.

¿Qué estado del bienestar, para quién, con que objetivos? Pensemos seriamente y cuestionemos el que 250 personas tengan tanta riqueza como el resto del mundo.

Nuestro reto es crear unas estructuras económicas solidarias no excluyentes, no especulativas, donde la persona y el entorno sean el eje, el fin y no el medio para conseguir una condiciones dignas para todas las personas.
Queremos encontrarnos contigo, desde las ideas y desde la presencia de estructuras solidarias que son una realidad, con un claro mensaje de que esto es factible, de que miles de personas ya están participando desde hace muchos años en hacerlo posible.

Aquí presentamos este espacio y esta propuesta a todos los sectores sociales, económicos, políticos y particulares como lugar de encuentro, reflexión, participación, adhesión, y comunicación.

HOAC, Hermandad Obrera de Acción Católica

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Somos y nos sentimos Iglesia. Creemos que esta Iglesia, con sus luces y sus sombras, es la Iglesia de Jesucristo, y deseamos y trabajamos para que seamos cada día más la Iglesia de todos los empobrecidos del mundo, porque sólo así podremos ser la Iglesia de todos.

Somos mujeres y hombres trabajadores que tenemos una experiencia y una aventura. La experiencia de sentirnos amados por Jesucristo. La aventura de vivir esta experiencia construyendo la justicia que brota de ella, procurando que los empobrecidos del mundo obrero lleguen a ser los protagonistas de su vidas.

El trabajo es cada día más escaso y más precario. Las personas son utilizadas como instrumentos de producción y consumo cuyo coste hay que reducir al mínimo. Sin embargo, la persona es lo más importante de todo cuanto existe y sus posibilidades de vida dependen de su trabajo.

Las necesidades básicas de la persona: salud, educación, vivienda, descanso…, se han convertido en un lujo para muchos trabajadores y trabajadoras, y para quienes no pueden acceder a un empleo. Pensamos que el trabajo debe posibilitar los recursos necesarios para vivir con dignidad y formar una familia.

Ante esta situación queremos:

• Construir un proyecto de humanización que nos ayude a vivir en libertad: optando por la comunión frente al individualismo; por la solidaridad frente a la competencia y por el ser frente al tener.

• Compartir la vida con nuestros compañeros y compañeras de trabajo, con nuestros vecinos del barrio…, y plantearnos con ellos qué podemos hacer para que nuestro mundo sea más justo y más humano.

• Transmitir el tesoro de la fe en Jesucristo y su Evangelio, clave para la reconstrucción de la persona y del mundo.

El cambio de nuestro mundo exige nuestra propia transformación personal. La formación, con el método acción-reflexión-acción, nos posibilita actuar con criterios humanizadores e ir forjando en nosotros actitudes liberadoras.

Nos exige el compromiso que, junto con otros, realizamos como aportación real a la toma de conciencia y a la transformación de las personas y del pequeño mundo en que vivimos.

Como fundamento de este proceso reconocemos la acción del Espíritu de Jesús que trabaja en nosotros y en todos. Para percibirlo así y responder adecuadamente, cuidamos la espiritualidad cristiana como dinamismo que posibilita la entrega, fortalece en la lucha y anima la esperanza de la vida comprometida.

Justicia i Pau

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¿Qué es Justícia i Pau?

Justícia i Pau (Justicia y Paz) es una entidad cristiana que actúa en Catalunya desde el año 1968 y que tiene por finalidad la promoción y defensa de los derechos humanos, la justicia social, la paz y el desarme, la solidaridad y el respeto al medio ambiente.

Con estas finalidades, Justícia i Pau se dedica a la sensibilización e información de la ciudadanía y a la presión política sobre instituciones gubernamentales y partidos políticos, mediante actividades diversas, como campañas públicas, informes, edición de publicaciones, organización de congresos, conferencias, seminarios, jornadas, intervenciones a los medios de comunicación, etc.

Entre otras actividades, Justícia i Pau denuncia casos de tortura y otras violaciones de derechos humanos, desarrolla acciones para promover el incremento de la ayuda oficial al desarrollo, la abolición de la deuda externa de los países pobres, la justicia en las relaciones comerciales internacionales, para denunciar los efectos perversos del militarismo, el gasto militar y el comercio de armas y presionar en favor del desarme, para promover la banca ética, el comercio justo y el consumo responsable, para exigir medidas de lucha contra la pobreza y la marginación social, para defender los derechos de las personas encarceladas y su reinserción social, etc.

Justícia i Pau obtiene la financiación por varios canales y procura de ser independiente; entre sus miembros hay pluralidad de opiniones dentro de una voluntad transformadora de la sociedad y del mundo actuales.

Además de las aportaciones de los socios y donantes particulares, la entidad recibe habitualmente apoyo económico para su funcionamiento por parte de la Generalitat de Catalunya, el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona y el Arzobispado de Barcelona.

Center of Concern

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Our Mission

The Center of Concern researches, educates, and advocates from Catholic social tradition to create a world where economic, political, and cultural systems promote sustainable flourishing of the global community.

Our Vision

We envision a global community that upholds basic human rights and human dignity, fosters just relationships, promotes sustainable livelihoods, and renews Earth.

The Center of Concern is a faith-based organization working in collaboration with ecumenical and interfaith networks to bring a prophetic voice for social and economic justice to a global context. The Center is both a provider of information and analysis as well as a catalyst for launching projects to address issues or opportunities that advance an authentic human development agenda. Through analysis, education, advocacy and capacity building, the Center challenges structural injustice and promotes innovative economic alternatives.

Effective Strategies

To advance our mission, the Center of Concern has adopted three overarching strategic goals:

1.    Influencing Public Policy
•     Give the voiceless a voice at the tables of power
•     Critique policy for those in leadership and for the general public

2.    Exercising leadership in national and international circles
•     Provide leadership and moral vision to advocacy networks working for more just institutions and policies in the U.S. and in the international arena
•     Support grassroots justice movements

3.    Educating for justice and social transformation
•     Develop theological/social reflection
•     Articulate a call to justice for the faith community
•     Provide education on critical domestic and international issues

Our Work

For 40 years, the Center of Concern has been enabling individuals, organizations and coalitions to:

1.    Explore and analyze the global issues and social structures from an ethical perspective based on Catholic Social Teaching
2.    Become involved in strategies and projects that promote the good of the entire global community and the integrity of every individual.

Since 1971, the Center of Concern has offered moral vision and provided effective leadership in the struggle to end hunger, poverty, environmental decline, and injustice in the United States and around the world. Our goal is to provide individuals and organizations with basic tools to addressthese universal questions: What are the root causes of human suffering in the world today? How can we change systems to increase social justice and offer hope? We provide reliable information and analysis on development issues, practical alternatives to current development policies, practical suggestions for personal action, and faith reflections on this work for justice.

Catholic Relief Services

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About Catholic Relief Services

Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to serve World War II survivors in Europe. Since then, we have expanded in size to reach more than 100 million people in 91 countries on five continents.

Our mission is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic social teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. Although our mission is rooted in the Catholic faith, our operations serve people based solely on need, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity. Within the United States, CRS engages Catholics to live their faith in solidarity with the poor and suffering people of the world.

CRS is motivated by the example of Jesus Christ to ease suffering, provide development assistance, and foster charity and justice. We are committed to a set of Guiding Principles and hold ourselves accountable to each other for them.

As the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States, CRS is governed by a board of directors comprising clergy, most of them bishops elected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as religious and Catholic lay men and women.

CRS maintains strict standards of efficiency, accountability and transparency: 93% of our expenditures go directly to programs.

CRS' Commitment to Catholic Teaching

Catholic Relief Services is a manifestation of love for our brothers and sisters around the globe by the Catholic community of the United States. We protect, defend and advance human life around the world by directly meeting basic needs and advocating solutions to injustice. CRS is a pro-life organization dedicated to preserving the sacredness and dignity of human life from conception to natural death. Every aspect of our work is to help life flourish. We are resolute in our commitment to the Church and its teaching.

As a part of the Universal Church, we work with local Catholic institutions around the world. As a Catholic agency that provides assistance to people in need in 91 countries without regard to race, religion or nationality, we also participate in humanitarian initiatives undertaken by a range of groups, including governments, other faith communities and secular institutions. Although some positions and practices of these institutions are not always consistent with the full range of Catholic teaching, CRS' work with these institutions always focuses only on activities that are fully consistent with Catholic teachings.

CRS employs Catholics as well as non-Catholics. Membership in professional associations enables our staff to obtain information and technological advances that best prepare us to serve those in our care—and we do so in full accordance with Catholic teachings. Our staff members also belong to coalitions that extend the reach of services to poor people who often live in remote areas where CRS does not operate. These coalitions give CRS a platform to present effective methods and procedures that demonstrate the efficacy of Catholic approaches to health and family planning. These are our opportunities to make space in the public sphere for the Catholic viewpoint and to witness to our faith.

Fr. Larry Snyder, Think and Act

Link to Think and Act

About

I'm Fr. Larry Snyder, President of Catholic Charities USA. I've launched this blog to encourage an open conversation about the moral crisis of poverty in America. It is my hope that together we can find 21st century solutions to this 21st century problem and advocate for real, sustainable change. This is our call to truly think and act anew.

It is a tragedy that poverty continues to increase in the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world. We must no longer ignore the injustice of poverty and the extreme inequality in America. We must seize this opportunity to promote changes that promote human dignity and the common good.

This year, as Catholic Charities USA celebrates its Centennial, we pause to reflect on our accomplishments, But we also renew our commitment to serve. The Centennial marks the beginning of a new history -- one of solutions, innovation, and change!