Foreign Aid

[Evainprayer]

We have become friendly with a religious from another country. Many of the people in that county live in poverty and education is rare. We would like to help the people of the area where this religious person is from, however we are unsure how to proceed, for example should we give money to this person or send it to the diocese where they are from? From our conversations, it seems it is easier to help on a case-by-case situation, as there are no organizations that help this particular community.
Apologies if this seems vague, but our hope is to help people in the best possible way.

 

[duskyjewel]

Perhaps contact Catholic Charities. You want to give aid through an organization that has structure in place to put it to the most effective use. To make sure that it doesn’t fall into the hands of a corrupt, oppressive government if at all possible.

Or, perhaps, if that is not possible, what about the local house of the order that this religious is from? They at least are established and know the local situation.

Giving cash aid directly to individuals is usually the least effective way of helping people… sad but true.

 

[Evainprayer]

I emailed the Propagatoin of Faith and never heard back. I will try Catholic Charities. The way it was explained to me is there is not a church in the village. A priest comes once a month to villages in his parish to Celebrate Mass. There are no religious in the area on a day to day basis. The religious community is not near the village this person is from, so it wouldn’t help the people in the village to donate to that community.
Because it is a foreign country, giving help can be a challenge as most schools have no religious affliliation and do not offer scholarships to students. Giving to the local Bishop might not necessarily help people in the community either.

 

[puzzleannie]

the best way would be to contribute to the religious order to whom your friends belong, and specify that the donation should be used to help their missionary activities. Catholic Charities deals with needs in the US or country where it is located. Catholic Relief Services takes care of material needs of people around the world in areas where the Catholic Church is allowed to operate. You could also send your donation directly to the Catholic bishop of the area where your friends live and work.

CFCA, Catholic Foundation on Children and Aging, supports missions and projects in many countries around the world, a very good way to insure a high percentage of your donation gets used directly to provide services to recipients.

Most likely members of a religious order are not allowed to accept donations personally, but can tell you how to donate to help the work of their order, and how to insure your gift goes where you intend it to be used.

 

[Evainprayer]

the best way would be to contribute to the religious order to whom your friends belong, and specify that the donation should be used to help their missionary activities. Catholic Charities deals with needs in the US or country where it is located. Catholic Relief Services takes care of material needs of people around the world in areas where the Catholic Church is allowed to operate. You could also send your donation directly to the Catholic bishop of the area where your friends live and work.

CFCA, Catholic Foundation on Children and Aging, supports missions and projects in many countries around the world, a very good way to insure a high percentage of your donation gets used directly to provide services to recipients.

Most likely members of a religious order are not allowed to accept donations personally, but can tell you how to donate to help the work of their order, and how to insure your gift goes where you intend it to be used.

We were hoping to be able to help the village of my religious friend directly. After seeing pictures of the people there it just seemed like a strong connection. I also feel like our religious friend would feel like the people there were helped because of their efforts.