Dear Pastors, Parish Administrators/Moderators, Business Managers and Others in Leadership:
Our Church mourns the terrible suffering of Christians and other innocent victims of violence in Gaza and the surrounding areas who are struggling to survive, protect their children, and live with dignity in dire conditions.
The Holy Father continues to call for a cease fire and for aid to enter the territory, noting with great sorrow that “Gaza is starving.”
The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) is there providing vital emergency humanitarian relief and medical and psychological care for the sick, malnourished and wounded.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is working through local Church partners to provide food, shelter, cash assistance, hygiene supplies, and care for people’s emotional well-being.
Given the extraordinary nature of this crisis, I am instructing all parishes in the coming weeks to take up a special collection to provide humanitarian relief and pastoral support for our affected brothers and sisters in Gaza and surrounding areas in the Middle East.
The situation is Gaza and across the Middle East cries out for assistance of the Catholic community of our Diocese and the United States.
Thank you for alerting your people to the needs and encouraging their financial and prayerful support of the Christians community in Gaza.
Asking God’s blessing upon you to be strengthened by the Real Presence, Real Hope and Real Mission of Christ.
I remain sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Michael W. Fisher
Bishop of Buffalo
Based on the bulletin of September 14, 2025.
