FALL RIVER — In the wake of the destruction to Puerto Rico and other Carribean islands by Hurricane Maria, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., has recommended that pastors in the Fall River Diocese facilitate an opportunity for parishioners to donate to support relief efforts in the form of a “free-will offering” to be taken up at Masses during the weekend of October 7-8. Collected funds will go to help those who have been affected through Catholic Charities U.S.A.

Parishes in the Diocese had taken up a special collection for the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida on the September 9-10 weekend.

“As you well know, since that time, another major hurricane, Maria, has inflicted catastrophic damage to the island of Puerto Rico and other islands in the Caribbean,” Bishop da Cunha writes in a September 27, 2017 letter to priests in the Diocese. “Faced with such great material needs and suffering among our brothers and sisters to the south, I am compelled to authorize a free-will offering in our parishes as aid to these many new victims.”

In addition, Bishop da Cunha also asked that prayers be focused on those who are trying to recover and re-build after the hurricane, and for effective efforts to provide them with relief.

Diocese of Fall River
Diocese of Fall River
Office of Communications