BALTIMORE. On Feb. 22, Catholics around the world will begin their Lenten journey.  For many Catholics in the United States, the spiritual journey of Lent is enriched by their participation in Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) Operation Rice Bowl.

For the six weeks of Lent, Operation Rice Bowl introduces participants to countries where poor communities are being strengthened by the work of the Catholic Church through Catholic Relief Services. A collection of short videos, personal stories, and simple meatless recipes from each country, along with a daily guide, provides reflections and ideas to enhance the Lenten experience for Catholics of all ages.   

“With a broad collection of resources, guides and activities, Operation Rice Bowl is ready made for parishes, schools and families to incorporate into their Lenten tradition,” said Joan Rosenhauer, CRS executive vice president of U.S. Operations.

For more than 35 years, Operation Rice Bowl has offered Catholics in the United States a way to connect with their brothers and sisters in need around the world through the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and acts of charity. Nearly 13,000 faith communities across the United States make Operation Rice Bowl part of their Lent experience each year.

For Sonia Arriola, a parishioner at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose, Calif., Operation Rice Bowl is a great way to engage her children in daily giving.  
“The thing we love about Operation Rice Bowl is how it shows lots of people uniting, in one common faith, sacrificing treasures that all add up to make a significant difference,” she said.

For fellow parishioner Anne McMahon, Operation Rice Bowl is a way to make fasting an action of solidarity.

“When people don’t have enough food across the world, then out of compassion for them having a simple meal or giving up something we’re accustomed tois a great reminder for us as a family,” said McMahon.

“CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl enables us to pray not only for ourselves and for change within ourselves but also to pray for those throughout the world. It’s one more simple way to see ourselves as brothers and sisters, and not as strangers to one another,” said Father Chris Bransfield, pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish.

This year, participants in Operation Rice Bowl will meet a farmer from Madagascar whose crops were improved by a new village water pump; a young man from Vietnam who learned a vocation in a school started for students with disabilities; a family in El Salvador who have clean water coming from a faucet in their house for the first time; a woman in Zambia who joined a microfinance group and saved enough money to open a market stall; a teen-age girl in India who taught her family use a nutritional food supplement and improved the health of her younger siblings; and a woman from Arlington, Va., who was helped by a local emergency food assistance program called Feed My Sheep.

Each of these programs is supported by money raised through Operation Rice Bowl: 75 percent is sent to CRS for overseas humanitarian programs and 25 percent remains in the U.S. diocese for local food programs.