US bishops' president calls for special collection for Catholic aid groups in Gaza

(OSV News) -- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference called for a special collection to bolster the Catholic Church's response to a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war continues to grind on.

In a letter to his brother bishops, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged them to hold a "special collection to provide humanitarian relief and pastoral support for our affected brothers and sisters in Gaza and surrounding areas in the Middle East" through both Catholic Near East Welfare Association and Catholic Relief Services, the overseas humanitarian relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Excerpts of the letter, dated Aug. 12 according to CNEWA, were released by both CNEWA and the USCCB Aug. 20.

"It is with great pastoral concern for the ongoing crisis in Gaza that I write to you today," the archbishop, who also heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said in his letter. "Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of Christians and other innocent victims of violence in Gaza and surrounding areas who are struggling to survive, protect their children, and live with dignity in dire conditions."

In July, organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.N. World Food Program, and UNICEF warned that a hunger crisis was deepening in the devastated area, exceeding famine thresholds, with more than one in three people going days at a time without eating.

Archbishop Broglio noted Pope Leo XIV "continues to call for a ceasefire and for aid to enter the territory, noting with great sorrow that 'Gaza is starving.'"

He said both CNEWA and CRS have well-established partnerships in the region that allow the Catholic Church to deliver aid quickly and efficiently to the Gaza Strip.

"The situation in Gaza and across the Middle East cries out for assistance of the Catholic community of the United States," Archbishop Broglio wrote. "I ask that you take up this collection and send funds to CNEWA and CRS as soon as possible."