Dozens of “home mission dioceses” across the nation have received much-needed financial support, provided by the generosity of U.S. Catholics through an annual collection.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Dec. 1 that 69 mission dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies had been awarded a collective total of more than $7.8 million in grants.

The allocations — which ranged from $10,000 to approximately $145,000 — were determined by the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, which met earlier in the fall to review the 2025-2026 grant applications.

The awarded funds were made possible through the USCCB’s annual Catholic Home Missions appeal. The collection, taken up in many dioceses and parishes on the last weekend in April, was established in 1998 to strengthen U.S.-based mission dioceses.

Donations to the appeal can also be made through the iGiveCatholic.org platform.

Mission dioceses rely on sustained aid, including funds from the annual collection, in order to provide basic pastoral services to the faithful.

In its announcement, the USCCB noted that the mission dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies receiving the grants “are found across the United States and its territories,” with many located “in regions with small Catholic populations in rural areas affected by economic hardship.”

The USCCB said the grants “support parish and diocesan operations, as well as ministries of evangelization, catechesis, and healing that grow and strengthen the Church.”

Bishop Chad W. Zielinski of New Ulm, Minnesota, who chairs the USCCB home missions subcommittee, said in a statement that parishioners contributing to the annual appeal “bring faith, hope and love where it is most needed,” regardless of the amount of their gift.

The donations “have a profound, positive impact on Catholics who face poverty or the isolation of being a small, minority faith,” he said.

(Continue reading online at https://catholicreview.org/u-s-bishops-award-over-7-million-in-grants-to-home-missions-thanks-to-nations-catholics/ )