Catholics Are Asked to Give to Iraqis

The nation’s Catholic bishops have been asked to hold a special collection this weekend to fund humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq.

Catholic Relief Services, the international relief agency for U.S. Catholics, plans to send food and medicine to Iraq to help feed 10,000 malnourished children and treat 25,000 sick Iraqis.

“While the Catholic population [in Iraq] is small, the opportunities for the church to be a compassionate, healing force are great,” Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., chairman of the Catholic Relief Services board, wrote to the bishops.

Lynch asked them to hold a special second collection at all weekend Masses and donate the money to CRS. Individual donors can also give to relief efforts on the CRS Web site at www.catholicrelief.org/iraq.