About the Catholic Appeal

Since 1942, the Catholic Appeal has helped people in all phases of life – from children, to youth, to parents, to the elderly. Now in its 83rd year, the Appeal sustains the numerous agencies, programs, and ministries providing food and shelter, educating children and adults, and meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of thousands.

Gifts to the Catholic Appeal have a wide-reaching impact across the Diocese of Fall River: from Mansfield, Easton and the Attleboro’s, through the Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford areas, and extending all the way to Cape Cod and the Islands. Donor support of the Appeal touches and improves the lives of tens of thousands of people: some sick in body, others in spirit; some broken, some confused, and some desperate, with nowhere else to turn.

Donor support bolsters the wide outreach of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fall River, the largest non-government provider of emergency assistance in the Diocese: basic needs assistance, food pantries, emergency shelters, transitional and supportive housing, ESL and GED programs, care for those with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities, and more. Gifts to the Appeal also provide ministry to the sick in all of our area hospitals; campus ministry, youth, and young adult ministry, and other faith formation and educational programs; and a variety of additional pastoral endeavors.

In 2023, our donors contributed $4.5 million to the Catholic Appeal. Each and every gift, no matter what size, makes a difference – it can help a child who needs food, a youth who is discovering the value of his or her faith, an unwed mother struggling to cope, housing for the homeless, and so much more.