US Catholics donate $2.7 million to help Church in Latin America

The interior of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Washington D.C., April 28 (CNA) .- On April 28, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that they awarded over $2 million in grants to the Church in Latin America.

The $2,777,917 raised through the Collection for the Church in Latin America was distributed to 128 projects throughout 23 countries, with $972,869 going to the earthquake-ravaged areas of Haiti and Chile, reported the Bishops' Subcommittee for the Church in Latin America.

"The projects approved by the subcommittee show the Church in action: supporting thousands of priests, sisters and laity working every day to bring the Good News to some of our poorest brothers and sisters," said Archbishop José H. Gomez, Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles and chairman of the subcommittee.

"From Caracas to Cochabamba, from Argentina to the Antilles, the Collection for the Church in Latin America helps to strengthen communion within the Church in the American continent, which is home to half the world's Catholics," he added.

In Haiti alone, the subcommittee's aid will help provide temporary parish centers and classrooms to 27 parishes as well as provide supplies to the national seminary. The aid will also supply radio transmission equipment for Catholic Radio Soleil in Port-au-Prince.

The subcommittee also approved funding for 20 temporary parishes in Chile, whose 11 dioceses were impacted by disastrous earthquake in Feb. An estimated 80 percent of the chapels in Chile were destroyed or left unusable.

Funding for religious and clergy personnel in 14 countries totaled more than $400,000. The subcommittee also provided grants to support indigenous faith communities in Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico and Nicaragua.