Deepen your Lenten journey with CRS Rice Bowl activities

Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) Rice Bowl offers Catholics in the United States a way to encounter Lent, to encounter the causes of migration and displacement, and to learn about the challenges faced by families around the world in their Dioceses, parishes and homes.

CRS Rice Bowl, the agency’s flagship Lenten program now in its fifth decade, will begin once again on Ash Wednesday – February 14, 2018 – giving Catholics throughout the country an opportunity to encounter the stories of people in
need around the world. From CRS’ work in more than 100 countries, we know that people do not want to leave their homes, that they do so because they feel they have no other choice,” said Joan Rosenhauer, executive vice president of Church Engagement.

“Lenten sacrifices contributed through CRS Rice Bowl help give them that choice by providing sustenance and livelihoods in communities around the world.”

Started as an ecumenical effort in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa., in 1975, CRS Rice Bowl soon spread across the country as it called on Catholics to perform a simple act of Lenten sacrifice — substitute a low-cost meatless meal for more expensive
dining once a week during Lent and put the money saved in a cardboard rice bowl.
That concept remains at the heart of the program even as it has expanded to include broader Lenten faith enrichment through a wide variety of resources available for the millions of Catholics who participate. These include prayer resources, a daily Lenten calendar, weekly stories of hope that introduce families from around the world and recipes from various countries for meatless meals that can be enjoyed on Fridays during Lent.