Dennis Sadowski

Local Catholic Charities programs have received some 12,500 pounds of fresh vegetables this year from a produce farm started by inmates at the Grafton Correctional Institution in northern Ohio.

"Our work is going to need to really focus on helping our diocesan directors access their state funders for this and also provide whatever support we can within limits. We don't have all kinds of money," Dominican Sr. Donna Markham said.

Affordable housing advocates at Catholic Charities agencies and elsewhere are working to help renters access federal Emergency Rental Assistance funds to prevent a surge in evictions tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

A $20 million loan from the U.S. international development bank will allow a program started by the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States to expand social-impact investing in enterprises operated by the Catholic Church in Africa.

As tens of millions more people are at risk of acute hunger because of the global coronavirus pandemic, Catholic Relief Services is embarking on a campaign to raise awareness, advocate and raise funds to head off the brewing crisis.

The needs of poor and minority communities that face greater health risks from pollution and economic disparities deserve to be addressed in any future federal pandemic relief package, dozens of religious communities and Catholic advocates said in a letter to members of Congress.

The Maryknoll religious community in Ossining, New York, has been hit hard by COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

For years, Dominican Sr. Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, has said it's a scandal that millions of American families are struggling to find a stable place to live.

The Sisters of Mercy have focused their ministries on five critical concerns: Earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism and women.

Catholic advocates for poor people decried a new federal rule that tightens work requirements which determine eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and is expected to force hundreds of thousands to lose food stamps.

Proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission would change how small shareholders of corporate stock, such as religious congregations, advocate for human dignity and a safer planet.