CRS Archives

Comboni nun answers ‘scream of pain’ of human trafficking victims
- Global Church
- August 30, 2017
“Do you know where the gold in your crucifix came from?” Simone Blanchard, an expert on ethical trade from Catholic Relief Services, asked. In many cases, she explains, it was procured by children in Peru, forced to work in the gold mines, an illustration of the global reach of human trafficking, estimated at $150 billion in annual profit to be the world’s third most lucrative illegal industry.
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Pezzullo, former diplomat who was first layman to head CRS, dies at 91
- Catholic News Service, Obituary
- August 6, 2017
Lawrence A. Pezzullo, the first layman to head CRS, died at the end of July. Coming to CRS after a career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Pezzullo is credited with taking the agency “to a new level of professionalism and impact,” reads the tribute from CRS.
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Young farmers in the U.S., Uganda learn to help each other
- Catholic News Service, Global Church
- July 10, 2017
Creating food stability is essential for any nation, which all “goes back to Catholic teaching. … When people aren’t hungry, they aren’t fighting,” Nina Crutchfield of Future Farmers of America said. FFA is partnering with CRS and schools in Uganda to help teach students agricultural skills and ideals.
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New mobile apps, backed by CRS, help pregnant, rural Indian women

Shikha Kesarwani, a 28-year-old social health activist, said she always had detested maintaining people’s health records. Often she forgot to log the information. But now, with the phone in her hand, she feels empowered referring to an app created to help remind women what they should be doing at all points of their pregnancy.

Genocide Coalition says religious minorities need protection from ISIS

The Genocide Coalition gathered in Washington, D.C. to call on the international community to remember and help religious minorities in the Middle East, especially in those areas of Iraq and Syria under the control of ISIS. One victim told the gathering “this genocide has not stopped.”

Lenten Rice Bowl boxes demonstrate that small things can have big impact

The cardboard Rice Bowl box that Catholic schoolchildren, families, university students and parishioners across the United States have been filling with coins and dollars as a Lenten sacrifice over the past four decades – can have a big impact on the lives of the poor.