Special Collection Will Focus On The Middle East

Parishes across the Diocese of Evansville will have special collections for the Middle East during weekend Masses in early September. The collections respond to a call from Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who wrote to his brother bishops as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Most parishes in our diocese will take the second collection at weekend Masses on Sept. 13-14. Some, however, will do so during weekend Masses of Sept. 6-7.

“Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of Christians and other innocent victims of violence in Iraq, Syria and Gaza who are struggling to survive, protect their children and live with dignity in dire conditions,” Archbishop Kurtz wrote. “Our Christian brothers and sisters and other innocent victims of the violence in the Middle East urgently need the assistance of the Catholic community of the United States.”