Posted April 22, 2010

The Philadelphia Archdiocese has raised more than $1.7 million through parish collections to aid earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. In addition, Catholic schools across the Archdiocese have raised nearly $151,000.

All funds donated by parishioners and Catholic schools will be remitted to Catholic Relief Services, the official Catholic international, humanitarian, relief and development agency in the United States.

A collection to help CRS help Haiti was taken up in churches across the Philadelphia Archdiocese at weekend Masses Jan. 23-24. Of the Archdiocese’s 267 parishes, 253 – approximately 95 percent – had contributed $1,780,775 as of April 20.

Catholic schools across the Archdiocese have collected $151,295.

The Jan. 12 earthquake has claimed countless lives and left 3 million injured or displaced in the Caribbean nation’s capital and largest city, Port-au-Prince.

For more information about Catholic Relief Services’ collection, including how to donate to CRS online, visit www.crs.org or call 1-877-HELP CRS (1-877-435-7277).

– CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine