US bishops urge Catholics to help African famine victims
August 11, 2011
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, chairman of Catholic Relief Services, are calling upon dioceses to take up collections on behalf of the 12 million victims of the famine in the Horn of Africa.
“Every day we are seeing more and more heartbreaking news about the drought and famine in Somalia and the eastern parts of Africa,” Archbishop Dolan and Bishop Kicanas said in a letter. “We see millions of people being forced from their homes, leaving behind what meager possessions they had, and walking for days over rough terrain.”
“There are parents whose little children have died, and children who have been orphaned,” the added. “It is a humanitarian crisis that cries out for help to Christians throughout the world. The Holy Father, on several occasions, has asked Catholics to respond generously to the desperate needs of our brothers and sisters in East Africa.”
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