Inviting U.S. Catholics to walk with us on their faith journey
Inspiring and motivating Catholics at home to serve the world’s poor is an equally important part of our work. That means always reaching out to new groups of the faithful with ways to live in solidarity with their global vulnerable neighbors. And create a better world.
Building bridges with Hispanic/Latinx Catholics
As part of one human family, CRS wholeheartedly welcomes all of Christ’s followers into the Church. By strengthening the New Evangelization, CRS encourages missionary disciples to serve the entire Church and become firm followers of Jesus.
With the tremendous growth of Hispanic/Latinx Catholics, CRS has worked with over 1,000 Hispanic ministry leaders throughout the year to welcome the Hispanic/Latinx community to the Church. Led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the V Encuentro process is a discernment and survey process that identifies and addresses the needs, aspirations and contributions of this group of faithful. Through both sponsorship and staffing, CRS offers best practices in global solidarity to the Hispanic/Latinx Catholics, V Encuentro and the Catholic Church in the US.
CRS was also invited to be one of six authors of the V Encuentro Guide, which will reach an estimated one million Hispanic/Latinx Catholics. The Guide will be the Instrumentum Laboris for a process designed to engage 1,000,000 participants in 2017 and impact 7 million Catholics by 2019. In this guide, CRS and Rice Bowl was included as one of the missionary activities, encouraging Hispanic/Latinx Catholics to participate in our programming.
An intra-agency collaboration takes on climate change
CRS complements our humanitarian and development work overseas with policy analysis and advocacy at home. Every 2 years we select policy issues on which to advocate in the United States. We analyze global and regional trends, identify issues that impact multiple regions of the world, and consider ways to address them. In 2016, the Advocacy team and CRS Univeristy teams collaborated to send a message to the Hill about climate change. College students are some of today’s most effective change agents. Recognizing this fact, the CRS Advocacy team saw an pportunity to engage the thought and faith leaders of the 21st century. They partnered with CRS University to mobilize students around an issue that was important to them—climate change.
“It was inspiring to know that chapters all over the country were working on the same thing.”
The ‘I am Climate Change’ campaign brought tangible ways to fight climate change to Catholic campuses nationwide through a microsite, social media and campus events. When all was said and emailed, students sent 3837 letters urging their representatives to support the Green Climate Fund and the Paris Agreement, which addressed greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and adaptation. 448 students from 101 colleges/universities registered for the campaign, including 37 schools that were new to the CRS University program. Just as importantly, CRS advanced its social media capacity and reach, and improved its ability to create advocacy tools—paving the way for future partnerships as well as a healthier planet.
“It attracted new people to the chapter.”
Post-Campaign Survey Results
72% of respondents reported the campaign was helpful in increasing engagement or strengthening chapter activity
69% of respondents reported they would like to do additional issue-based campaigns.
