By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register

This year Development and Peace knows what it’s up against.

Last year COVID-19 hit in the middle of Lent, torpedoing the annual Share Lent campaign. Carefully-rehearsed appeals Development and Peace members would have made to parishioners on the fifth Sunday of Lent never saw the light of day. The baskets that would have collected envelopes full of cash and cheques remained tucked under the back row of pews.

Canada’s Catholic development agency tried to shift gears, go digital and make its appeals online. But they weren’t prepared.

This year Development and Peace’s 10,000 members across Canada are being encouraged to create personal fundraising pages using the organization’s “Spreading Solidarity” platform. A different aspect of Development and Peace’s work will be explored each week on the Share Lent campaign website. An e-newsletter is going out weekly. A virtual Way of the Cross is ready for Good Friday.

The theme is basic and simple. “Share Love Share Lent” is the tagline on posters, flyers and newsletters. But the secret sauce is Pope Francis, explained Development and Peace deputy director Luke Stocking.

“Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si’ (encyclicals) and the message and vision of Pope Francis are helping us to connect with and inform a new generation, to provide real roots for the next 50 years of the organization,” said Stocking.

When the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace launched in 1967 its touchstones were the renewal of the Church launched by the Second Vatican Council, the council’s central document, Gaudium et Spes, and St. Pope Paul VI’s ringing endorsement of a post-colonial future in Populorum Progressio.

When Stocking speaks with young people today, he finds few of them have a strong grasp of the council of 1962 to 1965, which may pre-date their parents.

“But they know about Laudato Si’, they know about caring for our common home. They know about Pope Francis,” he said.

Online campaigning is simply not the same as in-person fundraising and Development and Peace is prepared for a down year.

“We’re looking at potential losses of $3 to $4 million from the usual Share Lent campaign.”

But the organization is also emerging from a painful period of tension with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. “There’s increased levels of trust,” Stocking said.

“The past year has been one of organizational renewal for Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, in order to bring it closer to the Bishops, other clergy, persons in consecrated life and laity, and thus more effective in its service to the poor and oppressed in the Global South. The renewal process is still underway, and much progress has been accomplished to date; much more is still to come.” – Letter from Archbishop Richard Gagnon, president of the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops (LINK)

The Canadian arm of the global Caritas network will propose Sunday morning prayers of the faithful for peacemakers, for humanitarian workers, for protectors of the Earth and for human rights defenders.

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, Development and Peace will pray for its partners around the world: “May they continue, through our support, to build a world of kindness, justice and peace.”

Share Lent webinars will be offered each week of Lent:

First week of Lent:  “The mission of Development and Peace and Catholic Social Teaching” (English) 12:00 p.m. CST Saturday Feb. 20 – To mark the World Day of Social Justice, take part in a conversation between Bishop Goudreault of the diocese of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Father Jean Patrick Ngoyi, director of the Commission for Justice, Development and Peace (JDPC), a long-time Nigerian partner of Development and Peace, and Gabrielle Dupuis, youth member and chair of the Anglophone Ottawa-Conrwall Diocesan Council. This online session will be hosted by Janelle Delorme, animator for Manitoba and Thunder Bay. Discover how the mission of Development and Peace is directly inspired by the Social Teaching of the Church (https://www.devp.org/en/cst ). The one-hour webinar will be recorded. Sign up here

Second week of Lent:  “Humanitarian intervention – realities on the ground” (English) 10 a.m. CST, Saturday, Feb. 27.Join Rebecca Rathbone, animator for South-West Ontario, Dominique Godbout, international programs officer and Abdullah Fuad, representative of Development and Peace’s partner Caritas Bangladesh as they discuss the Rohingya refugee crisis and the way Caritas has been working to alleviate consequences on affected communities, as well as Development and Peace’s unique philosophy when it comes to humanitarian responses. Abdullah Fuad is the head of a program for the emergency response for the Rohingya refugees based in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The one-hour webinar will be recorded. Sign up here

Third week of Lent: “Change structures and promote community development through partnership” (English) 6:00 p.m. CST Tuesday, March 2– Join Emily Lukasik, animator for Central Ontario; Mary Durran, international programs officer; and Jose Mario Lopez, member of the territorial defense team of Development and Peace’s partner, Fundación Eric – Radio Progreso. Find out how this people-led partnership in Honduras is having a positive long-term impact on community development and advocacy in the country, which is one of the poorest and most dangerous for human rights defenders in Latin America. The one-hour webinar will be recorded. Sign up here

Fourth week of Lent:  National ThinkFast (English and French) starting at 2:00 p.m. CST Thursday, March 11 – Each year, Catholic schools across the country participate in ThinkFAST a 25-hour fast that allows students to learn more about the Social Teaching of the Church and to raise funds for Development and Peace. This year, Development and Peace will be organizing a national virtual fundraising fast so that everyone of any age can participate! Development and Peace will be offering online activities during the 25-hour fast. Watch for more information.

Fifth week of Lent – National online Mass (French/English) on Sunday, March 21, times to be announced.

Sixth week of Lent: Event to be announced

Seventh week of Lent: Online National Way of the Cross (French/Englsih) on Good Friday, April 2, 2021 Times to be announced.