Current News & Highlights
Stay updated with CRS on timely issues and concerns or special dates, events and activities. This section features a variety of announcements, resources, and links from CRS, partners and other international organizations and will be updated on a regular basis.
- One God, One Song: To Jesus through Mary
On December 12, 2007 in the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, Most Reverend Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta, will crown the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of God and Empress of the Americas and ask her to unify and protect the Catholic population in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. This is the culmination of a process that started in Mexico in April 2007.
In preparation for this crowning, on December 1st, the Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of Atlanta is inviting all Catholics for a night of praise, celebration and solidarity with the concert "One God, One Song: To Jesus through Mary". Come and join Catholic artists Martin Valverde, Dunga and Fray Richard.
Catholic Relief Services, Southeast Regional Office is a proud sponsor of this event. For more information, download one of the flyers below.
- Go to Ghana in 2008 with FOJ
- CRS and the National Catholic Education Association(NCEA) Secondary Schools Department announce the return of Frontiers of Justice trip to Ghana in 2008. The trip will take place on June 26 to July 12, this includes a 2-day orientation in Baltimore, and travel to Ghana. Frontiers of Justice applications are now available online. Application deadline is January 2, 2008.
- Called to Witness Leaves for Ecuador & Announces 2008 Trip to Nigeria
- The 2007 Called to Witness trip, sponsored in partnership with the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, will be held September 15-26, 2007 in Ecuador. Visit the Called to Witness travelogue to see who is going and journey with us.
- CRS and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry also announce the 2008 Called to Witness trip to Nigeria. Taking place during a 12-14 day period in April/May 2008 (dates will be finalized in the Fall 2007), this timeframe includes a 2-day orientation in Baltimore, and travel to Nigeria. Called to Witness applications are now available online to be a part of this collaborative immersion experience between Catholic Relief Services and the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Registration deadline is November 20, 2007.
- New Food Fast materials now available!
- Order your 2007-08 Food Fast materials now! This year's Coordinator's Manual is filled with activities and prayers that explore the impact of fair trade and water/sanitation issues on world hunger and poverty. Included in the CD-Rom are presentations, reflections and additional customizable activities. This year, Food Fast also includes reflection sessions on the livesimply challenge through the permission of CRS counterpart CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development of England and Wales). Livesimply will challenge Food Fast participants to make a tangible commitment to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor as a result of their Food Fast. To help participants remember their fasting experience, we are offering a fair trade glass cross made by artisans in India. Since its fair trade the cross was made under safe conditions by adult workers who have been paid fairly. Visit www.foodfast.org to order your free materials.
- Cyber Bridges - You Are The Window of the World For Us
- Teachers participating in Cyber Bridges, a project-based program using the Internet, find teaching global solidarity is greatly enhanced through the connections their students make and relationships they develop with teens in India, Cambodia, Palestine and Viet Nam. During the 2006-2007 school year over 600 students worked on projects to introduce themselves, their families and their communities through an exchange of messages and photos and discussion of personal and cultural information on the Cyber Bridges website. As they worked through the curriculum, teens discovered that they really are more alike than different. More than 1000 messages were exchanged, hundreds of research projects completed and scores of cross-cultural celebrations staged. Students attending Fenwick High School in Chicago were able to video-conference with their partners in Bethlehem.
- Beginning this month, fifteen Catholic American high schools will be connecting with teens around the world, discovering what global solidarity means and opening windows on their worlds for their partners. As teens in the West Bank told their partners in Chicago, "You are the window of the world for us." Join us today and open windows for your students.
- Fair Trade Fundraising
- In the hustle and bustle of "back to school" activities educators and youth ministers like you are rightly more concerned with learning students' names than raising money. This is as it should be! But as you settle into the semester, please consider Fair Trade chocolate as a fundraising tool later in the year. The CRS "Raise Money Right" program provides teaching tools to integrate Fair Trade chocolate into concepts of Catholic Social Teaching. This then makes it easy to invite young people into adopting Fair Trade chocolate as a fundraising activity, such as selling Advent Calendars at the holidays. Read about the summer experiences of students and teachers who explored Ghana, home of the Fair Trade cocoa beans that end up in candy bars online! You are sure to get ideas about how to bring Fair Trade into your classroom and begin discussions of a classroom project to Raise Money Right this year!
The 2097 Concert Tour- CRS joins Adore Ministries, Provident Records and national Catholic recording artists for the 2097 Praise and Worship Tour. Visit the CRS 2097 site for more information.
- World Youth Day Global Pilgrimage
- Catholic youth across the country are praying and preparing for World Youth Day in Sydney. The World Youth Day Global Pilgrimage is part of that process. Read about the cultures in our one human family, and prepare to meet the people at World Youth Day. Pray for peace and justice with interactive photo meditations. Learn about the work of the U.S. Catholic Church that serves people around the world, and take action by acting justly and living in solidarity.
- The 2097 Concert Tour
- CRS joins Adore Ministries, Provident Records and national Catholic recording artists for the 2097 Praise and Worship Tour. Visit the CRS 2097 site for more information.
- World Youth Day Global Pilgrimage
- Catholic youth across the country are praying and preparing for World Youth Day in Sydney. The World Youth Day Global Pilgrimage is part of that process. Read about the cultures in our one human family, and prepare to meet the people at World Youth Day. Pray for peace and justice with interactive photo meditations. Learn about the work of the U.S. Catholic Church that serves people around the world, and take action by acting justly and living in solidarity.
- Stewardship / Care of Creation
- A new compilation of resources on Stewardship/Care of Creation available through CRS, the US Catholic Conference, their partners and other organizations, both faith-based and secular, is now available on the CRS Education website. Resources focus on environmental justice, water, and environmental education and serve to foster a deeper understanding of our faith call to be good stewards of all creation.