.- The Committee on the Home Missions has awarded a special $3-million grant to the five dioceses most affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The committee of the U.S. bishops helps support some of the poorest dioceses in the country. There are about 90 U.S. dioceses that receive CHM grants.
CHM chairman Bishop Peter Sartain of Little Rock said the CHM had decided in September that it would expend up to $3 million of its reserve funds for hurricane relief.
At its meeting in Washington Nov. 15, the committee allocated most of the funds: $1.2 million was granted to the Archdiocese of New Orleans; $900,000 to the Diocese of Biloxi, and; $300,000 each to the Dioceses of Houma-Thibodaux, Lake Charles, and Beaumont.
“The Catholic Home Mission Appeal is a concrete expression of the spirit of communio that binds together all the bishops of the United States,” Bishop Sartain said in a letter to the heads of the affected dioceses. “Please accept this special award with their prayers and ours for a hopeful future.”
The Committee on the Home Missions is the successor to the American Board of Catholic Missions, begun in 1924. It is funded by an annual appeal conducted in the 195 U.S. dioceses.
