By Lindsay Steele The Catholic Messenger The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, working to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ. CCHD offers grants annually to community organizations led by individuals with low incomes working to break the cycle of poverty and improve their communities. Catholics through­out the U.S. make these grants possible by contributing to CCHD each year. The 2023 collection will take place Nov. 18-19. Three-fourths of the collection is pooled into a national fund, with the remaining one-fourth used for local poverty-fighting efforts. CCHD grants to local anti-poverty efforts are screened, awarded and monitored in close partnership with local Catholic dioceses.

By Lindsay Steele The Catholic Messenger The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, working to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ. CCHD offers grants annually to community organizations led by individuals with low incomes working to break the cycle of poverty and improve their communities. Catholics through­out the U.S. make these grants possible by contributing to CCHD each year. The 2023 collection will take place Nov. 18-19. Three-fourths of the collection is pooled into a national fund, with the remaining one-fourth used for local poverty-fighting efforts. CCHD grants to local anti-poverty efforts are screened, awarded and monitored in close partnership with local Catholic dioceses.

This promises to be a very busy weekend in our parishes....

The Catholic Climate Covenant has recognized Burlington native Mary (Martin) Meyers for her “exceptional dedication” to peace and social justice efforts. Meyers, sister of retired diocesan priest Father Dennis Martin, is a lay leader at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, Illinois and a member of the Joliet Diocese’s Laudato Si’ commission. She was one of four individual honorees in the inaugural Laudato Si’ Champions Awards, presented virtually earlier this year. The Diocese of Davenport received honorable mention in the diocesan category.

Pope Francis has called for a day of fasting, prayer and penance on October 27, inviting "sisters and brothers of the various Christian confessions, as well as those belonging to other religions and those who have at heart the cause of peace in the world."

Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy turns 60 this year! Promulgated on December 4, 1963, this has been the foundational document for the the renewal of the liturgy ever since.

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger DAVENPORT — Dan Ebener was a college sophomore when he witnessed Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day, now on the path toward sainthood, accept the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1972 in Davenport. On Sept. 13, Ebener emceed the ceremony during which Atiya Aftab and Sheryl Olitzky, co-founders of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an international movement that builds relationships between Muslim and Jewish women, received the Pacem in Terris award. Gail Karp and Lisa Killinger, who co-founded a local chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, received the One Among Us Justice Award. The event took place at St. Ambrose University.

Gail Karp, who is Jewish, called her longtime friend Lisa Killinger, who is Muslim, to talk about the possibility of forming a local chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, which builds relationships between Muslim and Jewish women. Lisa loved the idea. “Salaam” is the Arabic word for peace and “Shalom” is the Hebrew word for peace.