For over 50 years, Catholics in the United States have participated in the Collection for the Church in Latin America as a concrete expression of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Central and South America and the Caribbean.   Your contribution to the collection, no matter how small, is a chance for you to support religious education, evangelization, and formation of priests and religious sisters and brothers throughout the Americas.  Join the conversation on Twitter #1church1mission, and also connect on Facebook and Instagram.   To learn more, visit www.usccb.org/latin-america.  

Donations to this cause assist in providing funding for the four Catholic grade schools and two Catholic high schools located in Shreveport and Monroe.  Help is also provided to the Bishop’s Tuition Assistance Fund which aids those families seeking Catholic education for their children.  Your gift helps assist in funding the Office of Superintendent of Schools which seeks to provide the necessary oversight and management of our two high schools and four elementary schools that exist within the diocese.  

Please be generous so that we as a Catholic family can support the care and quality education of our young people who remain our greatest resource.

Ash Wednesday will provide opportunity for two second collections.  First, the Diocesan Retired Priests’ Fund provides assistance to priests of the Diocese of Shreveport who have reached the age of 70, at which they are able to fully retire if they so choose. Because of the importance of this collection, it is now the primary second collection taken at Ash Wednesday Masses in our diocese.  100% of the money given to this fund supports our local diocesan priests who have given so much to us through their lives of service to the Church.  

The Collection for Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, also collected on Ash Wednesday, supports the Church in more than 25 countries that still struggle to recover from former communist rule. Funds from this Collection support pastoral care, catechesis, building renovations, and seminary formation. Your support restores the Church and builds the future in this region. More information can be found at www.usccb.org/ccee.

This collection exists to help local African American and Native American Diocesan Communities throughout the USA spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and respond to real and pressing needs in their communities.  Our own diocese has been recipient of many grants from the Black and Indian Mission Fund to support the work of local communities in our region. 

Each Lent, Catholic families across the country unite to put their faith into action through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through Catholic Relief Service’s Operation Rice Bowl, families learn about how our sisters and brothers across the globe overcome hardships like hunger and malnutrition, and how through Lenten alms we have the power to make the world a better place for all.  Additionally, 25% of this collection stays with the local diocese for hunger and poverty alleviation efforts. Be on the lookout in the church foyer for bowls to take home once Lent begins.  

Your support for this collection gives aid to victims of persecution and natural disasters, provides legal services to poor immigrants, and advocates for the powerless. Through your generosity, six Catholic agencies help Jesus in the guise of the vulnerable refugee, the immigrant family, and the poor and marginalized. Please prayerfully consider contributing to The Catholic Relief Services Collection today.

The Pontifical Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land serves to aid Christians in the Holy Land. Your support helps the church minister in parishes, provide Catholic schools and offer religious education. The Pontifical Good Friday Collection also helps to preserve the sacred shrines. The wars, unrest and instability have been especially hard on Christians. In these times of crisis, the Pontifical Good Friday Collection provides humanitarian aid to refugees. When you contribute to the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, you become an instrument of peace and join with Catholics around the world in solidarity with the Church in the Holy Land. For more information about Christians in the Holy Land, visit www.myfranciscan.org/good-friday.

The collection for Diocesan Church Vocations supports the formation of our seminarians and the Diocesan Office of Vocations.  100% of this collection stays in the Diocese of Shreveport so that vocations may be fostered within our local communities of faith.  Please be generous. 

Today, over 40 % of dioceses in the United States are considered mission territories because they are unable to fund the essential pastoral work their communities need. The Diocese of Shreveport is one of these mission territories which benefits greatly from Catholic Home Missions.  Your support of this appeal helps ease the struggle of these dioceses. Please prayerfully consider how you can support this appeal. More information can be found at www.usccb.org/home-missions.

The Catholic Communication Campaign connects people with Christ in the United States and in developing countries around the world through the Internet, television, radio, and print media. Fully 50% of the money collected remains here in the Diocese of Shreveport to fund local communications efforts. Your support helps spread the Gospel message! To learn more, visit www.usccb.org/ccc.

The Peter’s Pence Collection unites us and Catholics around the world more closely with the Holy Father in two ways: it supports the structures of the Holy See through which the Pope governs the Church as well as his charitable efforts to assist victims of war, oppression, natural disasters, and others most in need. For more information, visit http://www.peterspence.va/en.html.

Although the Church in Africa is growing, many still lack access to basic resources and pastoral care. Many suffer due to high rates of poverty and unemployment, illiteracy, and poor education. The Solidarity Fund supports pastoral projects that foster lasting peace and reconciliation in a continent often marked by division and tension. To learn more, visit www.usccb.org/africa.

Church support over the past decades have helped fund special outreach to these important members of our faith community including our Hispanic youth.  Outreach via retreats, Spanish radio, sports outreach through soccer clubs, masses celebrated in Spanish and the preparation of those seeking confirmation continue to benefit from your donations to this special collection.  As our diocese seeks to more fully incorporate these critical new Catholic members of our region, your generosity will continue to assist our Hispanic Ministry efforts in a number of locations throughout our diocese.

The Collection for The Catholic University of America underwrites scholarships to assist financially deserving students in completing their education at CUA in over 50 disciplines. Since 1903, The Catholic University of America has been blessed by the generosity of parishioners around the country through the National Collection. James Cardinal Gibbons, the university’s first chancellor and the ninth Archbishop of Baltimore, affectionately called the collection “the people’s endowment.” Catholic University is the national university of the Catholic Church. Gifts to the National Collection — the only second collection taken for higher education in the U.S. — support students during this crucial time and help the University conduct critical research that will serve parishes and dioceses throughout the country.

Pope Leo XIV invites the entire Church to support mission dioceses in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe, where priests, religious and lay leaders serve the world’s most vulnerable communities. Please keep the Pope’s missions in your prayers and be generous to this collection for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Forty million people in the United States live in poverty. This collection supports programs that empower people to identify and address the obstacles they face as they work to bring permanent and positive change to their communities. Learn more about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development at www.usccb.org/cchd/collection.

In good times and bad, senior Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests have served our Church and world. Today, they pray for a world that is hurting. Yet hundreds of religious communities do not have enough retirement savings and struggle to provide for aging members. Your gift to today’s Retirement Fund for Religious collection helps provide medications, nursing care, and more. Please be generous.

IThe Catholics of our area have a strong tradition for supporting our Infirm Priest Fund.  Remember that you are providing needed generosity for these dedicated men who have given a lifetime ministry to the faithful of our diocese.  As the average age of our priests continue to rise, the need in this area will only increase as week seek to care for those priests who provided spiritual care to us and our families.  Please prayerfully consider how you can assist our infirm priests, and may God bless you for your assistance in this worthy cause.