Operation Rice Bowl is the other ‘super’ bowl
Published Feb 11, 2008
NEW LENOX—The national gridiron competition between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants Feb. 3 might have monopolized the conversation in many households, but it was briefly intercepted by another bowl among families at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox. Instead of passing around bowls of chips, the parish’s peace and social justice committee distributed cardboard bowl-shaped containers for donations to Operation Rice Bowl, which alleviates poverty locally and globally. Scorecards were replaced with calendars, offering education about the world’s poor and suggesting activities to assist them.
The parish is one of many in the diocese that was preparing to participate in the Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten program, which emphasizes prayer, fasting, learning and giving. It kicks off Ash Wednesday—Feb. 6. CRS, the overseas humanitarian relief and development agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, reaches more than 80 million people in more than 100 countries.
According to Maribeth Meaux, Catholic Relief Services coordinator for the Joliet diocesan Peace and Social Justice Ministry, 34 parishes and schools in the Joliet Diocese joined more than 14,000 faith communities and schools in donating a total of $8 million to CRS last year. During an earlier conversation, she said the faithful of the Joliet Diocese donated a total of $37,314.61 in 2007.
Seventy-five percent of Operation Rice Bowl contributions is targeted for CRS development projects overseas and Lenten education projects in the United States. Twenty-five percent of Operation Rice Bowl contributions remain in the Joliet Diocese to help fund local hunger and poverty alleviation projects. Last year, $9,300 remained in the seven county region.
Meaux described how the funded CRS projects respect human dignity and encourage self-reliance for the project participants. She listed some examples of CRS development projects to include agricultural projects that improve crop yields and increase food security, water projects that bring potable water to communities, microfinance projects that stimulate local economies, improved health and nutrition services for families, education projects that offer resources and training and HIV/AIDS projects that support those affected by the disease.
Operation Rice Bowl also offers Catholics an opportunity to live out Catholic social teaching principles by standing in solidarity with the disenfranchised, said Virginia Leonhart, a peace and social justice committee member at St. Jude Parish. Addressing the congregation she said, “Solidarity is a term may of us have heard. It is a connection that ties us with others.”
Pam Novak, coordinator of the peace and social justice committee at St. Jude Parish, said the faith community selected the project this Lent in hopes of raising awareness among parishioners. She said, “The Catholic Church is working to eradicate the causes of poverty.” Novak said she wanted parishioners to learn how they can assist in reaching that goal. Legislative advocacy can lead to debt relief, increased foreign aid and better trade agreements, she added.
The committee hoped parishioners would follow the Operation Rice Bowl calendar and learn about the world’s poor, prompting them to participate in future social justice endeavors, such as a Global Poverty Act postcard campaign supported by the Council for Global Solidarity and Missions of the Joliet Diocese.
In a letter to activists, John St. Laurent, chairperson of the Global Solidarity Council Education Committee in the Joliet Diocese, recently pointed out that “every day 30,000 people die as a direct result of extreme poverty.”
He invited Catholics to “raise their voices in support of the poorest of the poor” by signing cards urging U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to co-sponsor the Global Poverty Act. He explained that the act “requires the president to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to promote the objective of eliminating extreme poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide who live in extreme poverty by the year 2015.”
More information about the postcard campaign and Operation Rice Bowl are available by contacting the Joliet diocesan Peace and Social Justice Ministry at 815-834-4028.
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