Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) designates one collection every year to help the Church in Latin America. In the Diocese of Columbus, the collection will be taken on the weekend of August 5-6. Our generosity is a tangible demonstration of our solidarity with the Church across our hemisphere.
Although approximately half of the world’s Catholic population lives in Latin America, the Church in the region is losing its members at an alarming rate. Some are drawn away from the Church by other faiths; others migrate in pursuit of a better life elsewhere. The troubling priest-parishioner ratio, given the large Catholic population, has weakened the Church and family structures in the region. Your help is very much needed to strengthen the faith of the people, to train pastoral leaders to care for the flock, and to renew the Catholic culture of the region.
The collection supports catechesis, formation, evangelization and other pastoral programs, which are designed to strengthen and to renew the faith of the people in the region. I invite you to give generously to this collection and to pray for the success of our efforts to further the sharing of the Good News in the New World.
Grateful for your loving response to the call to build up the Church and to increase the Kingdom of God in the world, I am
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Earl K. Fernandes
Bishop of Columbus
