Donations to Development and Peace during the COVID-19 crisis

Click here for Bishop Marcel's letter
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March 24, 2020

Re:  Donations to Development and Peace during the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 crisis that we are currently experiencing helps us better understand the fear and insecurity that are a regular part of life for so many of our brothers and sisters in the global south. During each Lenten Season we express our support to these brothers and sisters by contributing to the Share Lent campaign of Development & Peace – Caritas Canada.

This year, an important part of Share Lent, the Solidarity Sunday collection that would have been taken up on March 22nd, will have to be postponed to a later date to be determined once the COVID-19 crisis is over. Until then, I encourage the faithful to donate, if they can, to Development and Peace – Caritas Canada. 

To make it as easy as possible for people who wish to contribute, a “donate button” will be added to the Diocesan website. I encourage parishes and organizations of lay faithful to include a similar button on their own websites. Among the attached resources, you will find a document entitled WebButtons that includes the necessary graphics and URL. Attached, you will also find documents to share with your parishioners, using means available to you during this time of crisis.

These documents include the following:

• Message for parish websites
• Message for parish news bulletins
• Messages and images for social media
• Web buttons for parish websites
• Message for online Masses

I encourage you to use these resources so that our Diocese can meet and even exceed its expected contribution to Share Lent. 

As we continue our Lenten journey in solidarity, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, your continued support to Share Lent is especially important, in a global context where the potential spread of COVID-19 to the south would be devastating. In more than 30 countries, D&P supports the integral human development of communities, helping them become more resilient in the face of challenges such as COVID-19.

Although we may not gather in a physical church for the next few weeks, we are called to witness and express to others the love of God, through our care and concern for our neighbor, including our brothers and sisters in the southern regions which, in many cases, are the most vulnerable in our world today. 
 
+Marcel Damphousse
Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie