Who is Helping in Ukraine?

 

Who is Helping in Ukraine?

 The Catholic Church has been and continues to remain one of the longest-standing charitable organizations in the world around the world. Caritas, which is the global Papal relief agency is present everywhere and active in the most troubled lands of the world. Caritas is present in Ukraine and in the neighboring countries now receiving refugees. The Catholic Relief Services sponsored by the US Bishops and supported by the Catholic people of the United States is one way to channel funds to Caritas in Ukraine as is Catholic Near East Welfare Association. These charitable arms of the Catholic Church are in partnership with Caritas and have been active in Eastern Europe for some time now and so they are present in the areas now under siege by the Russian Army and the countries under stress as they receive many displaced people. This long-standing presence is important because it means that structures and networks are already in place on the ground which enables immediate and effective relief and support to be provided to people most seriously affected by this crisis.

So the answer to our question as to who is helping should be that we are, and indeed we will be as the Ash Wednesday Collection is given to Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, a third of our Holy Thursday Collection which represents our almsgiving for Lent will be given to Catholic Relief Services designated for Ukrainian relief, and we will place Collection Baskets for contributions to Catholic Near East Welfare Association at the entrances to the Church for the next two weeks so that a significant contribution can be sent to that agency to help now with the tremendous needs that must be met.