Florida Catholic | Bishop Wenski's Column

Participation in Operation Rice Bowl offers opportunity to embrace spirit of Lenten season

Published: 01.18.08

Lent comes early this year, with Ash Wednesday observed the first week of February. And so it is not too early to consider how we will respond to its call to conversion of mind and heart through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Among the various possible activities one could embrace during the Lenten season, I would ask you to consider participating in Catholic Relief Services’ Operation Rice Bowl. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an agency of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, engaged in international relief and development since the end of World War II. Present in more than 90 countries, CRS works in the name of American Catholics and expresses our solidarity with those in need throughout the world.

Through Operation Rice Bowl, you and your family can participate in a tangible way in supporting the good works of Catholic Relief Services and also of our own local Church. At home, you can make use of the symbolic “rice bowl” offered through your parish to deposit monies not spent on yourselves during Lent. The “rice bowl” on the family table offers an opportunity for each family member to enter into the spirit of Lent: first, by common family prayer; then, by fasting in solidarity with those who are hungry; and, finally, by almsgiving (the gift of the money saved during Lent representing our sacrificial contribution) to support the work of the Church through CRS.

Actually, many Catholics are unaware of what CRS does — or even the fact that it exists, and that it exists as an American Catholic agency engaged in the international arena. Did you know that CRS is actively engaged in providing relief in Darfur? Or that more than 200,000 children in Haiti find their most nutritious meal of the day thanks to programs administered through Catholic Relief Services in that country?

After the Christmas Day tsunami of 2004 devastated countries in Asia, CRS was at the forefront, providing relief and helping to rebuild homes. And, in Africa and the Caribbean, CRS assists local Catholic agencies in caring for those affected by HIV-AIDS. Operation Rice Bowl can provide an opportunity to learn more about the work of our Church in faraway places — but also, more importantly, it also gives us the opportunity to support that work.

CRS’ budget is far larger than the funds raised through Operation Rice Bowl. However, the rice bowl project raises close to $8 million from Catholics throughout the United States each Lenten season. Eighty percent of these monies goes to help reduce poverty overseas through support of grassroots microfinance projects. The other 20 percent (about $2 million) is retained by dioceses in the United States for local hunger and poverty alleviation efforts.

The 40 Days of Lent are a time to prepare for the renewal of our Baptismal Promises on Easter Sunday, a time to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. Since in Jesus Christ, God became man, we cannot turn to God without at the same time turning to our brothers and sisters. In a world faced with many challenges stemming from the phenomenon of globalization, Operation Rice Bowl is one Lenten practice that can help us respond — effectively and not only affectively — to Pope John Paul II’s call for the “globalization of solidarity.”

For more information about CRS or Operation Rice Bowl, visit http://orb.crs.org.

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Participation in Operation Rice Bowl offers opportunity to embrace spirit of Lenten season

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