Good News from the Missions Office - Upcoming Events

Rice Bowl (Ash Wednesday is March 9)
The Lenten materials from CRS are on their way to every parish and participating school. We recently sent a print copy of the "Coordinator's Guide" to each of our Rice Bowl contacts, and we'll follow up with a CD-ROM/DVD that contains most of the resources that are available online at http://orb.crs.orgAll of the CRS Rice Bowl materials are also in Spanish: http://orb.crs.org/es. If you need to know who your community's Rice Bowl contact is, please call or email us.

Catholic Advocacy Day: March 24
Speak up on behalf of the poor and vulnerable! To learn about this event, and to register by February 11: http://ipjc.org/events/CatholicAdvocacyDayFlyer2011.pdf.

Parish Social Ministry Regional Gathering. March 25 and 26, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
This weekend conference is for Northwest parish and diocesan leaders to learn more about the Catholic social mission and to discover effective strategies to respond to need and injustice. Excellent presenters including JustFaith national staff. Sponsored by Catholic Charities USA; small scholarships available through CCUSA. Visit http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/...ty/PSMtraining.

Jubilee Economics: Fear and Greed vs Generosity and Joy
A workshop for "ministers confronting the economic crisis in our church communities." The morning of February 17, in Seattle. Visit http://ipjc.org/events/JublieeEconomicsBrochure.pdf

CCHD Multi-Media Arts Contest for youth in grades 7-12 : local deadline for entries is March 11.
We're accepting entries of all art forms; poetry, short stories, videos, web sites, Power Point presentations, music, and other art forms are encouraged.
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development contest is an opportunity for schools and parishes to engage young people in learning about the root causes of poverty; CCHD’s support for groups of empowered, low-income people working to address these causes; and Catholic social teaching’s call for Catholics to support such efforts through both charitable works and social justice. Visit http://www.usccb.org/cchd/contestmaterials.shtml.

Sudan
Our thanks to all those who prayed for and advocated for the people of Sudan leading up to their referendum earlier this month. We're especially grateful to high school and college students in this archdiocese for their response and activities. For reports from the Sudanese Catholic church and from our Catholic Relief Services, please visit http://peaceinsudan.crs.org; "Pictures of Peace” is an inspiring, educational item from CRS for individual or small group/classroom viewing.