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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Dear Friends,
I
present to you this annual report on the activities of the
Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human
Development (CCHD) from 2015. The work of CCHD
is varied, dynamic, and rooted in the evangelical mission
to promote justice and mercy for those who live in poverty
here in the United States. As you will see in this report, we do not seek to
give people a hand out but a hand up. The work of CCHD empowers people
to identify issues in their own communities and develop responses to address
them. We prioritize subsidiarity: putting power at the level where it can do
the most for the common good.
This year, Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation,
Amoris Laetitia
,
to underscore the importance of the family in the Church. He said, “The
Church is a family of families, constantly enriched by the lives of all those
domestic churches” (no. 87). Standing together as a “family of families”
gives the Church the strength and support to address issues of poverty here
in the United States. The programs of CCHD work to give families a sus-
tainable life and give children hope for the future.
But this work would not be possible without the support of our larger CCHD
family. I thank you for your support and solidarity in addressing the root
causes of poverty here in the United States.
Pope Francis has made clear the importance of reaching out with compas-
sion and mercy to neighbors in need in order to build a culture of encounter.
So let us walk together as one family in the footsteps of Jesus: “This is the
way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in
him ought to live [just] as he lived” (1 Jn 2:5-6).
Respectfully,
+Jaime Soto
Bishop of Sacramento
Chairman, Subcommittee on the
Catholic Campaign for Human Development