The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace / Caritas Canada (CCODP) launched its 50th annual Share Lent campaign on 28 February 2017. The theme of this year’s campaign is Women at the Heart of Change. The goal is to collect $8 million “to support Development and Peace’s social justice work in solidarity with approximately a hundred local partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.” Various resources are available on the website of CCODP including a message from the Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., Bishop of Hamilton and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).

Development and Peace was founded in 1967 by the Catholic Bishops of Canada in response to Blessed Paul VI’s Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio. Over the past 50 years, thanks to the generosity of Catholics across the country as well as grants by the Government of Canada, Development and Peace has invested $600 million in more than 15,000 projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. To mark the 50th anniversary, the President of the CCCB issued a Pastoral Letter on 18 November 2016.

Link the message of Bishop Crosby (PDF)

Link to the CCODP news release

Link to the resources for the Share Lent campaign