(OSV News) –The U.S. bishops are calling the faithful to donate to the annual collection for the Church in Latin America, to help support ministries among the poor in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean — and to “honor Pope Leo XIV and, above all, serve the Lord who calls us to love our neighbors.”
Many dioceses will take this offering up in their parishes at Masses the weekend of Jan. 24-25.
Supported by the generosity of the U.S. faithful, the collection funds different ministries such as faith formation projects for teenagers, marriage enrichment, prison outreach and evangelization-centered gatherings. They represent the types of initiatives that inspired Pope Leo, then-Father Robert Prevost, “to go to Peru as a missionary,” according to a news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Jan. 8 USCCB statement also pointed out that Pope Leo, while bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, received several grants from the Collection for the Church in Latin America, with which the diocese “improved youth ministry in impoverished parishes, promoted care for the environment and educated thousands of parents, teachers and catechists in the prevention of child abuse.”
Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha of Fall River, Massachusetts, serves as chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, which coordinates this annual collection and grants its funds.
“Pope Leo XIV’s faith journey embodies the spirit of why the bishops of the United States created the Church in Latin America program six decades ago to make an impact in Latin America,” he said in the USCCB statement.
Over 300 faith initiatives supported by special collection
In 2024, the Collection for the Church in Latin America allocated resources to 344 projects of evangelization, formation, and pastoral action in countries including Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, according to the USCCB.
“Thanks to the people of God, we are able to help with more than $8 million,” said Father Leo Pérez, director of the Church in Latin America Program of the USCCB’s Office of National Collections, who noted that these resources are invested in “the formation of seminarians and religious women, as well as youth ministry, catechism, lay gatherings, etc.”
A member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary, Father Pérez told OSV News that for the U.S. bishops, it is essential to send resources to countries such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti “because they are suffering greatly, and it is not easy to send money to those countries, so we know how to do it, and we are in contact with those most in need in those countries.”
In Cuba, collection funds used for faith formation, materials
Bishop Emilio Aranguren Echeverría of Holguín, Cuba, said the resources they receive are used for basic needs and invested in formation efforts, such as catechesis for children, adolescents and young people; Christian initiation for adults; formation of pastoral agents; and materials and printing for evangelization.
“Our vehicles are old, and there are also difficulties with fuel and its price, so the aid we receive allows us to run a program to serve these communities,” Bishop Aranguren told OSV News.
Bishop Aranguren also spoke of a pastoral study underway in Cuba “about the functioning of small communities with the traditions of our culture and our religiosity” and the importance of traditions, such as “novenarios” for those faithful who have lost a loved one and who gather for nine days to pray for the eternal rest of his or her soul.
“The generosity of our faithful is very, very great, but what our faithful offer is their service, their actions,” he said, highlighting “the catechist who can offer Saturday afternoon, the visitor to the sick who dedicates two days or two afternoons a week, the lay missionary who moves from one place to another.”
Bishop Aranguren also emphasized that thanks to the generosity of Catholics in the United States they can meet basic needs, so that parishes have the minimum resources to guarantee the celebration of the sacraments and daily pastoral care in parish offices.
Youth ministry, communities in Venezuela supported by collection for the Church in Latin America
Bishop José Antonio Da Conceição Ferreira of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, who also serves as the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference’s secretary general, said the annual collection helped Catholics in his country “strengthen our communities and larger processes such as those at the level of the episcopal conference.”
“The needs of the diocese are many because it is a very poor diocese, impoverished by the social, political and economic situation of the country,” the bishop told OSV News. “We have many shortcomings in terms of infrastructure, in terms of supporting the clergy, in terms of being able to launch more pastoral projects.”
According to the United Nations, Venezuela has faced years of economic collapse, political instability, and a humanitarian crisis that has left millions in urgent need of assistance. The recent U.S. military intervention that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — largely seen as a dictator by the international community — was both celebrated and criticized by many leaders around the world and had caused tensions and uncertainty in the country.
Addressing the needs of his diocese with regard to the collection, Bishop Da Conceição Ferreira said that “there are many dreams and hopes, but sometimes the economic factor is what slows us down a little. It’s not that we’re not working, because we work hard, but the economic factor is sometimes what slows down our work.”
Expressing gratitude to God “in concrete gestures”
Bishop Da Conceição Ferreira pointed out that thanks to these grants, Catholic leaders have launched new projects or promoted existing ones to give them continuity.
“In the case of my diocese, the youth ministry has carried out some formation processes with young people, and it has truly been thanks to this support that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has given us through its Latin America section,” he said.
“Gratitude must also be expressed in concrete gestures, and I believe that every Catholic who supports this collection is giving thanks to God, which then translates into support for formation and pastoral processes in the churches of Latin America, which are so much in need,” he added. “It is an impetus to continue.”
Marietha Góngora V. is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Maryland.
For more information and ways to donate online, go to the giving site #iGiveCatholicTogether, www.igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CLA.
