Il Bollettino

The USCCB urges Congress to protect asylum seekers and family unity A USCCB spokesperson at the press briefing T he United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a comprehensive statement on federal immigration policy, calling on Congress to restore due process protections for asylum seekers and halt the separation of families at the southern border. The statement is among the most forceful public interventions the Conference has made on immigration in more than a decade. The document, signed by more than one hundred bishops, invokes the Church’s long tradition of welcoming the stranger and cites recent deportations of individuals with deep ties to Catholic communities — including several who were brought to the United States as minors and have lived as practicing Catholics for the whole of their adult lives. The statement calls for a bipartisan legislative solution that upholds both the rule of law and human dignity. It does not endorse any specific bill currently before Congress, but sets out a series of principles — including family unity, access to legal counsel, and protection for those fleeing violence — against which the bishops say any proposed legislation should be measured. The face of the migrant is the face of Christ. We cannot look away. Congressional leaders in both parties acknowledged receiving the bishops’ letter. Several Catholic members of Congress issued their own statements in response, with reactions divided along familiar partisan lines. The USCCB’s Committee on Migration will brief congressional staff on the statement’s contents next week. Catholic immigration legal services organizations report a surge in demand for their services in recent months, as enforcement activity has intensified and more families seek guidance. The bishops have pledged to expand funding for these services through the annual Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection.

Donations to parish-based relief programs surged this Lenten season The national director of Catholic Charities USA C atholic Charities USA has announced that Lenten donations to its network of parish-based programs reached record levels this year, defying broader trends of declining charitable giving amid economic uncertainty. Officials attribute the increase to a coordinated campaign that linked fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in a more intentional and integrated way than in previous years. The campaign, titled Give as You Fast , ran from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday and was adopted by over three thousand parishes across the country. Participating parishes committed to a structured weekly giving theme tied to specific local needs — food insecurity, housing, refugee resettlement — accompanied by formation materials and testimony from those served by Catholic Charities programs . Several dioceses piloted digital giving platforms tied to daily Lenten reflections, which appeared to drive significantly higher engagement among younger donors. Total contributions are expected to exceed two hundred million dollars when all parishes have reported — a figure that would represent a thirty percent increase over the previous record set in 2019. People are hungry for ways to make their faith concrete. Lenten almsgiving gives them that. The surge in giving comes despite falling Mass attendance in many dioceses, suggesting that charitable engagement and active sacramental participation may be decoupling in ways that pastoral leaders will need to address. Researchers at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate plan to study the phenomenon in detail. Catholic Charities has announced it will expand the campaign nationally next year, making formation and platform resources available to any parish that wishes to participate regardless of size. Officials say the goal is to make the integration of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving a permanent feature of Lenten culture in American Catholic life.