Cross Catholic Outreach

Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor

Delivering food, shelter and hope to the poorest of the poor.

Housing Impact

Blessing Families With Safe, Secure Homes

A home is more than a shelter. It’s the foundation for family life — a secure place to sleep, share family meals and link arms in prayer. Safe and sanitary housing conditions can also prevent disease, improve school attendance, and give children and families a stable pathway to prosperity and a brighter future in Christ.

Sadly, according to the United Nations, 1.6 billion people live in unsafe, unsanitary conditions. Cross Catholic Outreach empowers Catholic ministries to build and repair houses for these families in need. During the 2022 fiscal year, compassionate U.S. Catholics provided safe shelter for families in 10 countries. This included building and repairing 82 homes for earthquake survivors in Haiti, expanding homebuilding projects in Guatemala and building homes for 97 people in Sorsogon City in the Philippines.

15
Projects
10
Countries
Grants Provided
282
Homes Built
496
Houses Repaired
4,940
Blessed With a Safe Home

GUATEMALA HOUSING

CARITAS SANTA ROSA DE LIMA

A Catholic priest stands with a family of five outside a concrete-block home under construction.

In rural Guatemala, life is full of challenges — and is made even more challenging by families’ living conditions. In the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima, to call houses “substandard” would be a dramatic understatement. Wooden walls are infested with insects, and when it rains, water gushes through the holes in the roof and walls, turning the dirt floors into mud and soaking each family’s few possessions.

Cross Catholic Outreach’s partnership with Caritas Santa Rosa de Lima is grounded in serving as God’s instrument of mercy. With the support of generous American Catholics, Caritas was able to build safe, sturdy homes for 107 families, including 214 adults and 535 children.

The benefiting families are overjoyed to have received a three-room concrete-block home with a sturdy foundation, lockable windows and doors, a metal roof, a fuel-efficient stove, a water storage container, and a sanitary latrine. These were important blessings that upheld the dignity of men, women and children by addressing both their material and spiritual needs.

Fast Facts

History

Cross Catholic Outreach began partnering with Caritas Santa Rosa de Lima in 2014 with the goal of implementing social, economic and spiritual activities within the diocese to transform rural communities with limited resources.

Housing

Since 2014, Cross Catholic Outreach supporters have funded the construction of 396 homes within the diocese.

Community

Families help with unskilled labor during the home construction process, and many help with their neighbors’ new homes, too.

Other Outreaches

In addition to providing safe housing, Cross Catholic Outreach partners with Caritas Santa Rosa de Lima to bless families with food, water, agriculture, education and spiritual outreach.

EXPLORE HOUSING PROJECTS

Donations from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred through June 30, 2023, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.