As Humanitarian Aid Funding Shrinks, CRS Invites Catholics to Stand with Hungry Families Through CRS Rice Bowl

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, Feb. 18, 2026 – As countries around the world reduce their funding for international humanitarian aid and hunger continues to rise, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) invites Catholics across the United States to pray, fast and give alms through its annual Lenten program, CRS Rice Bowl, which starts today, Ash Wednesday.   

 Ongoing conflicts, extreme weather, and persistent inflation are driving up food prices, pushing more families into hunger. According to the United Nations, nearly 700 million people worldwide face hunger today, just as cuts to humanitarian aid are leaving millions with fewer lifelines. This dangerous combination makes faith communities and programs like CRS Rice Bowl more critical than ever.

 “The past year has been incredibly difficult for so many families around the world,” said Sean Callahan, CRS’ president and CEO. “We’re seeing more people go hungry just as the resources available to help them are being reduced. CRS Rice Bowl offers Catholics in the U.S. a meaningful way to respond and affirm that no one is forgotten.”

 Rooted in Catholic social teaching and the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, CRS Rice Bowl invites participants to live the principle of solidarity—recognizing that all people are part of one human family. Through the program, Catholics support lifesaving work overseas while also helping fund local hunger-relief efforts in dioceses across the U.S., responding with compassion and generosity to those most in need. 

“Solidarity is a way of showing strong, unwavering commitment to the common good,” said Bishop Patrick M. Neary, chairman of CRS’ board of directors. “Through CRS Rice Bowl, we have the opportunity to put our faith into action, to walk alongside our sisters and brothers who face hunger and to affirm that we stand with them, even at a time when global support is being scaled back.”

Donations to CRS Rice Bowl support CRS programs around the world that address hunger and poverty by tackling their root causes. In addition, 25% of funds collected remain in local dioceses to support hunger-relief efforts in communities across the U.S. As many families nationwide struggle with rising costs of living, these local investments are more vital than ever.

 “As Catholics, we are called to serve those most in need, especially when the challenges feel overwhelming,” Callahan said. “Right now, families everywhere are feeling the strain of rising costs, no matter where they live. CRS Rice Bowl offers Catholics in the U.S. a tangible way to live out their Lenten almsgiving, transforming small, personal sacrifices, like skipping a weekly coffee, into a greater impact for families facing hunger.” 

 Direct donations to CRS are accepted online, by phone or mail.

 Online:

English: crsricebowl.org/give

Spanish: crsplatodearroz.org/donar

 By Phone:

Call 877-435-7277 between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and tell the operator that the gift is for CRS Rice Bowl.

 By Mail:

Please write “CRS Rice Bowl” on the memo line of your check and mail it to:

                        Catholic Relief Services

                        Attn: CRS Rice Bowl

                        P.O. Box 5200

                        Harlan, IA 51593-0700

“Even in the face of rising hunger and shrinking resources, we are not powerless,” said Bishop Neary. “Through CRS Rice Bowl, the small sacrifices we make during Lent become signs of hope reminding the world that love, generosity and solidarity are stronger than scarcity.”

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 Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 80 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For more information, visit www.crs.org or www.crs.org/es and follow Catholic Relief Services on social media in English at Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and YouTube; and in Spanish at: Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

Ash Wednesday Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe Continues 35 Year History of Restoration and Healing

WASHINGTON - On Ash Wednesday, February 18, Catholics in dioceses across the United States are invited to give to the annual Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

This collection, which is in its 35th year, continues its mission of helping churches in nearly 30 countries recover from militantly atheist communist rule, including ministry and relief efforts related to the war against Ukraine.

Bishop Gerald L. Vincke of the Diocese of Salina, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, witnessed the collection’s work in Ukraine last March. “I visited a shelter for families whose homes were destroyed and an orphanage for children whose parents were killed. Veterans I met with expressed their gratitude for therapy they have been able to receive for their post-traumatic stress,” he said.

“An elderly man who had survived a Siberian gulag told me, ‘What gives me hope is that, in the end, evil does not win.’ He is right – but that requires all of us to follow Christ’s call to build the kingdom of God. Pope John Paul II knew that in 1990 when he urged Catholics in the United States to join the great rebuilding effort in lands newly liberated from communist oppression – lands from which many of our families had immigrated,” continued Bishop Vincke.

The Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe was the U.S. bishops’ response to that call. Many dioceses take up this annual collection on Ash Wednesday, though some dioceses have different dates. The online giving site iGiveCatholic also accepts funds for the program.

In 2024, gifts to the collection funded 547 grants totaling more than $9.5 million. Examples of how donations are used include:

• In Kokshetau, Kazakhstan, sisters of the Community of the Beatitudes expanded their mission of evangelization by establishing a day center for preschool children with Down syndrome and their families.

• In the Slovak Republic, a multi-faceted outreach to vulnerable pregnant women provides material assistance, counseling, training in prevention of abuse, and “Evenings of Mercy” a gathering featuring Mass, confessions, and healing prayers.

• One of the many projects in Ukraine trains lay leaders in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Exarchate of Lutsk to develop new skills in pastoral and social ministry so they can help bring hope and comfort to people who have lost everything.

• A thousand-year-old Benedictine monastery in Hungary is helping clergy and laity discover the teachings of Vatican II on topics ranging from liturgy to interfaith relations.

• In Bulgaria, a village church has been able to engage in digital media evangelization and now offers a post-abortion healing ministry. They were also able to send young pilgrims to the Jubilee in Rome and financed English-immersion studies for a priest in order to reach non-Bulgarians.

“For 35 years, your contributions to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe have made a profound difference. You have rebuilt cathedrals, renewed hope, healed the suffering and brought joy where there had been despair,” Bishop Vincke said. “As these churches continue to heal from old wounds and suffer new ones, it is my hope that you give generously and become part of our ongoing and loving response.”

Additional information on grants and impact is at www.usccb.org/ccee.

Bishops invite faithful to pray novena for the unborn

by Tessa Gervasini

The United States bishops have invited Catholics to pray an annual Respect Life novena for the protection of the unborn.

The Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is sponsoring the “9 Days for Life” prayer that will begin on Friday, Jan. 16, and end on Jan. 24. The novena is to be prayed in observance of the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children on Jan. 22.

The 2026 “9 Days for Life” marks the 14th time the novena has taken place. Since it began, the prayer has reached hundreds of thousands of people in over 100 countries spanning six continents, according to the USCCB.

The overarching intention of the novena is to end abortion, and it also offers prayers for mothers and fathers, those suffering from participation in abortions, civic leaders, and pro-life activists.

Those who sign up to participate can access a resource kit with information in both English and Spanish. Participants will be offered daily prayer intentions accompanied by short reflections and suggested actions to help build a culture of life.

There are also resources available to help leaders guide the novena at parishes, schools, and ministries.

The USCCB first began sponsoring the novena in 2013 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on Jan. 22, 1973. Following the legalization of abortion, “millions of children have lost their lives, and millions of women and families have been wounded by abortion,” the USCCB said.

While the Supreme Court overturned Roe. v Wade in 2022, continuing efforts are still “needed to protect children and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion,” the bishops said.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), designated Jan. 22 as “a particular day of prayer and penance.” In all the dioceses of the U.S., the day “shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion,” according to the GIRM.

On the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, the bishops suggest the faithful observe the day by attending Mass, abstaining from meat, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, fasting, praying a decade of the rosary, or offering a prayer for life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.