The typical image of poverty is often presented to us when we walk down a busy street. We see a man or woman holding a coffee cup, baseball cap or some other vessel to receive the pocket change of passers-by. 

It’s a simple action, almost involuntary, and we seldom give it another thought. We are asked to dip into our deep pockets as we sit in the pews, and to spare some money for the less fortunate at Christmas.

Tracking the troubling daily news brought on by COVID-19 in the pandemic’s early months inspired Athena and Briana Zhong to conceive an altruistic sister act.

OTTAWA -- With the federal government facing an increasing deficit piled up by spending on COVID-19 relief measures, a Christian think tank says Ottawa must do more to help charities survive the effects of the pandemic.

With churches across Ontario getting the go-ahead to open their doors, and most set to resume Sunday Masses June 21, it should alleviate some of the financial burden for dioceses still awaiting government relief through the Canada Wage Subsidy program.

LIMA, Peru -- Diego Ramirez, a single father in a rural village in southern Guatemala, worked in a restaurant and kept a chicken farm, selling the birds in a market to support his three daughters.

BHOPAL, India -- Catholic volunteers provided food and shelter to hundreds of people in coastal eastern India after Cyclone Amphan devastated the region May 20, killing 80 people and destroying thousands of homes.

Sheri McConnell has no doubt some divine intervention was involved in her taking on the role of executive director of Mary’s Meals Canada in March.

It’s hard to tell how Giving Tuesday affected donations to Catholic charities in Canada, but ShareLife did see an uptick in donations from an e-mail blast sent to coincide with the annual charitable fundraising day May 5.

VATICAN CITY -- Charity should be given freely and lived humbly with the poor, never letting it become hypocrisy, a slick business or a way to soothe a troubled conscience, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- The charity of the Catholic Church must be born from prayer before "the fixed tabernacle and mobile tabernacles" -- adoring Jesus in the Eucharist and ministering to him in the poor and needy, Pope Francis said.

After topping $13 million for the first time last year, ShareLife is reaching even higher this year as it brings three more agencies under its charitable umbrella.

At one Toronto Catholic school, situated in an affluent part of the downtown core, about 13 per cent of its students go to sleep each night surrounded by others struggling to get by in a wealthy city that can often forget its downtrodden.

Twenty-two religious orders have signed a letter questioning the wisdom of withholding funds from Development and Peace and expressing dismay over the extended investigation into 52 of the organization’s 180 partners around the world.