Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
Looking for a way to give back and bless others this Christmas? Cross Catholic Outreach’s Christmas Catalog is an inspiring way to incorporate almsgiving into your family’s Advent and Christmas observances!
As you explore the Christmas Catalog, you are able to “shop” for the gift that most touches your heart — from a soccer ball for a needy child to clean water for families in Kenya — much like the experience of selecting Christmas gifts from a commercial catalog. But these gifts are different. They allow you to be someone’s miracle, blessing impoverished children and families in developing countries around the world.
In this article, we’ll explore Cross Catholic Outreach’s Christmas Catalog gifts, new items for 2022, and how you can share Christ’s love where it is needed most.
The Christmas Catalog features a variety of gifts to bless children, families and entire communities in developing countries. Gift categories include:
There are gifts for all price ranges, from providing prenatal vitamins for pregnant moms in Central America to building sturdy four-room homes in Haiti. No matter what you choose, every Christmas Catalog gift is a special way to bless children and families in need.
The Christmas Catalog is an important part of Cross Catholic Outreach’s vision of all Catholics around the world uniting to overcome material and spiritual poverty. We work directly with Catholic bishops, priests, sisters and lay missionaries who live among the poor in developing countries such as the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Ethiopia.
Our overseas partners are eager to make a difference, but they lack the funding needed to carry out important poverty relief and spiritual outreach programs. The Christmas Catalog is designed to bridge this funding gap, giving U.S. Catholics the opportunity to select from 35 gifts that will bless the poor this Christmas.
In 2021, more than 95% of Cross Catholic Outreach’s organizational expenses went directly to programs that help the poor, so you can be assured that your gift will have a tremendous impact!
U.S. Catholics have been supporting Cross Catholic Outreach’s Christmas Catalog for over a decade. Last Christmas, the most popular item was Vitafood, protein-rich meals scientifically formulated to meet the needs of malnourished children. Cross Catholic Outreach ships Vitafood in bulk to ministry partners in developing countries, where the meals reach hungry children and families. Our Vitafood outreach is a great way to rush nutritious food where it is needed most, and it can also avert catastrophe when a sudden emergency, such as a hurricane or earthquake, disrupts a community’s food supply.
Another popular catalog selection is Box of Joy®. This special Christmas outreach puts smiles on the faces of thousands of precious children by allowing them to open their own boxes full of Christmas gifts — and they receive a message about Jesus’ love for them too. For many of these children, Box of Joy is the first Christmas gift they have ever received!
Our 2022 Christmas Catalog includes several meaningful projects highlighted for the first time. One of our new featured items is emergency aid for children and families in Ukraine. With your help, Cross Catholic Outreach will continue to rush food, water, sanitary kits and other relief to help war refugees and internally displaced families.
If health care is your passion, you might be interested in sponsoring breast cancer awareness and screenings in Haiti. This gift will help train volunteer health agents to educate women in rural areas on breast health and how to perform self-exams.
You can also support anti-trafficking efforts in the Philippines, helping compassionate Catholic sisters provide a safe and loving home environment for girls, as well as child protection clinics to teach boys to respect women and value marriage.
Do you believe every child deserves a quality education? Catholic school scholarships in Kenya will provide a life-transforming education for impoverished children in the Nkaimurunya community near the capital city of Nairobi.
The annual Christmas Catalog offers Catholic families lots of inspiring and impactful options for sponsoring a truly meaningful Christmas gift — one that will address a real and urgent need. Be sure to browse the Christmas Catalog online and give to whichever projects the Lord calls your heart. With your help, we can reach more needy families than ever before, blessing them with material aid and the spiritual joy of knowing our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our mission is to mobilize the global Catholic Church to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. Your gift empowers us to serve the poorest of the poor by channeling life-changing aid through an international network of dioceses, parishes and Catholic missionaries. This cost-effective approach helps break the cycle of poverty and advance Catholic evangelization.