Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe approved over $2.3 million in funding for 75 projects in 23 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
“A new generation of Catholics in Central and Eastern Europe needs our support as they continue to face the ongoing consequences of decades of communist rule,” said Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago, chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, “These grants give the people living there, especially the younger generation, a place to encounter Christ and the courage and strength to re-build their church communities.”
Grants approved include:
- Support to Caritas Georgia for a rehabilitation center for youth in Kutaisi to reach out to disadvantaged youth. This center will provide vulnerable youth and their families a place of support, empowerment, and career counseling to grow in self-knowledge and relationships with others, keeping them off the streets and giving them a path for the future. The center will also provide community and economic support for their families.
- Funding for The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Custody of St. Padre Pio in Ukraine and Russia to reconstruct and refurbish a building to provide spiritual, psychological, and educational support to those affected by the armed conflict in Ukraine. Support will be provided to wounded servicemen, grieving or affected families, internally displaced persons, victims of war and other refugees. People will also have access to humanitarian aid, legal support, counseling, and cultural activities.
Other projects approved by the subcommittee include scholarships, the rebuilding of churches and schools, and outreach to the poor.
Grants are funded by the annual Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. The national date for this collection is Ash Wednesday, although dioceses may take it up on different days. The Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe oversees the collection and an annual grant program as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. More information about the collection and who it supports can be found at www.usccb.org/ccee.
