Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Washington (Agenzia Fides) - “Believe in the power of the Spirit of Love!” is the theme for the 2009 Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe to be held on Ash Wednesday, February 25, promoted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. From its start more than 15 years ago, the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe has focused on rebuilding what was lost in the years of war, devastation, and oppression: church structures, religious education, ministry formation, and evangelization. Although the collection officially begins on Ash Wednesday, each particular diocese can chose its own dates. In 2008, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe distributed $6.8 million in grants for 335 projects. Funding went for pastoral and social projects in 28 countries, including Georgia , Ukraine , Estonia , Poland , Serbia , Latvia and Belarus . Priority went to the poorest countries, such as Moldova , Albania and Kyrgyzstan.
Projects funded in 2008 provided humanitarian assistance for street children and home care for the elderly through Caritas in Tbilisi , Georgia , and a new heating system in a seminary in Lviv , Ukraine , to avoid the unpredictable and outrageous cost of natural gas from Russia . A Catholic TV studio in Latvia also received funding. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 23/2/2009)
