{"id":19152,"date":"2026-06-10T01:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/after-doge-cuts-us-awards-240m-to-catholic-relief-group\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T01:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:04:21","slug":"after-doge-cuts-us-awards-240m-to-catholic-relief-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/after-doge-cuts-us-awards-240m-to-catholic-relief-group\/","title":{"rendered":"After DOGE cuts, US awards $240M to Catholic relief group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_WKBBEimblXK?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(RNS) \u2014 More than a year after Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency slashed federal funding for Catholic Relief Services as it dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department announced it would give the Catholic agency more than $240 million for humanitarian and disaster response assistance.<\/p>\n<p>Catholic Relief Services is the international relief arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it partners with other Catholic relief organizations that are also members of Caritas Internationalis around the globe. CRS was the top recipient of funding from USAID.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a Friday (June 5) press release, the State Department said the funding for CRS would be used for food, water, health, sanitation and shelter in \u201ccountries with significant levels of humanitarian need,\u201d including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria and Sudan. CRS is already working to respond to the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Before last year\u2019s USAID cuts, federal funding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncronline.org\/news\/exclusive-catholic-relief-services-lays-staff-cuts-programs-after-usaid-shakeup\">supported<\/a> about half of CRS\u2019 $1.5 billion budget, making the $240 million grant a fraction of the support the agency once received from the government.<\/p>\n<p>Alistair Dutton, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organization over CRS, <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2025\/02\/13\/catholic-organizations-argue-for-funding-in-face-of-millions-of-potential-deaths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told RNS<\/a> last year that U.S. aid cuts would cause millions of people to die and hundreds of millions to suffer.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>The State Department said this grant would be the first in a series of awards to \u201ctrusted and vetted implementing organizations\u201d focused on lifesaving assistance that are able to respond to crises around the world within 24 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4092477\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4092477\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-427x240.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-807x454.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-624x351.jpg 624w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/webRNS-State-Department-20230504-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">The Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters for the State Department, is seen in Washington. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite, File)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the past several months, CRS has been a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osvnews.com\/rubio-says-us-closely-working-with-catholic-church-to-get-cuba-humanitarian-aid\/\">key partner<\/a> for the State Department in providing humanitarian aid to Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed U.S. aid to Cuba \u2014 which is facing widespread humanitarian issues from Hurricane Melissa and fuel shortages compounded by a U.S. oil blockade \u2014 to be provided through the Catholic Church, as he pushes for regime change in the country. Rubio has accused Cuba\u2019s military generals of corruptly hoarding funds that could address the humanitarian disaster.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department\u2019s press release cites that partnership, writing, \u201cin the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, CRS demonstrated the capacity to provide assistance in challenging political environments, such as Cuba, where its local partnerships enabled humanitarian assistance to reach those in need without regime interference.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>The announcement was made Friday in Rome by Ryan Shrum, State Department Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response senior bureau official, who was joined by Brian Burch, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See; Lynda Blanchard, permanent representative of the United States to the U.N. agencies in Rome; Jennifer Poidatz, CRS vice president for humanitarian response; and Dutton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCRS is grateful for the opportunity to reach more people affected by crisis, at a time when humanitarian needs far exceed available resources,\u201d Poidatz said in a CRS press release. \u201cWe appreciate the leadership of the United States and of national governments committed to responding to new and enduring crises.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/09\/after-doge-cuts-state-department-awards-240m-to-catholic-international-aid-group\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 More than a year after Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency slashed federal funding for Catholic Relief Services as it dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department announced it would give the Catholic agency more than $240 million for humanitarian and disaster response assistance. Catholic Relief Services is the international [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}