COMBINED COLLECTION

TO AID CHURCH IN AFRICA

            The Church in Africa will join the Church in Latin America and in Eastern Europe as a beneficiary of a collection to be taken in the 216 parishes of the Diocese of Brooklyn at the Masses on the weekend of Jan. 21-22.

            At their annual meeting last fall, the U.S. bishops approved a request to collect and distribute funds to support the developing Church in Africa, using the efforts made by dioceses annually to assist the Church in Latin America and Eastern European as a model.

            In authorizing the combined collection here, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said it was a way to show solidarity with the Universal Church. He urged increased support by parishioners since there will be three beneficiaries.

            Meanwhile, the Diocese has reported that parishioners contributed more than $2.5 million in 2005 to appeals for aid to victims of natural disasters.. Most notable was $1,201,125 for Hurricane Katrina relief and $1,126,216 for survivors of the South Asia tsunamis.

            Funds donated by parishioners were also sent to agencies responding to the earthquake in Pakistan, the famine in the Darfur region of the Sudan and the Sahel, flooding in Caribbean countries and other events.

            The funds were channeled through Catholic Relief Services, the overseas aid agency of the Church in the U.S.

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