On the fourth Sunday in January (this year Jan. 24-25), the USCCB holds its first special collection of 2026: Collection for the Church in Latin America (or CLA). This collection supports pastoral programs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more than 50 years, the USCCB-Church in Latin America program has been a sign of solidarity between Catholics of the United States and those in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the 2024 annual report, the 344 grants made from the collection were able to help strengthen the faith of Catholics and offer hope where there is often despair.

In Haiti, for example, where government collapse and violence have created an atmosphere of fear, a grant of $20,000 supported a retreat for nearly 1,000 Haitian university students to “gather in prayer, Bible study, and discussions of important societal issues of human rights, peace, economic justice and ecological responsibility.”

In the Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba, grants helped efforts in catechesis and Bible ministry to form and strengthen leaders who will share the Gospel in their parishes and communities. In Columbia, donations funded a training conference for 1,500 evangelizers. And in Brazil, a grant of $50,000 is covering some seminary expenses for 149 priesthood candidates and 69 applicants for the permanent diaconate.

In thanking donors, Bishop Octavio Cisneros, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Brooklyn and Chairman of the USCCB Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, says: “You are helping to bring Jesus in the Eucharist, as well as pastoral care and inspiration, to people in great spiritual need.”