(Louisville, Kentucky) On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, 1:30 p.m. Catholic Charities will hold a media briefing about the Catholic response to the crisis in the Sudan. This event will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 508 Breckenridge Lane.  Kathy Brown from Catholic Relief Services, Larry Cox, chief of staff for Senator Mitch McConnell, Ed Monahan from the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, Gabriel Majak from the Sudan, and Becky Jordan from Catholic Charities’ Migration and Refugee Services will make brief statements and take questions.

The briefing is taking place as the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan continues to deteriorate in the face of waning international attention to the crisis. People are enduring targeted attacks, vast insecurity, widespread hunger, and disease. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is reaching more than 100,000 people across West Darfur and is providing food, shelter, clean water and sanitation, education and agriculture support to those in dire need. To date, CRS has pledged more than $6 million to the crisis for relief efforts in Sudan and Chad. According to Mark Bouchard, coordinator of education, national programs, and legislative advocacy for Catholic Charities, “We hope that this briefing will help the Louisville community become familiar with the situation in the Sudan, how the Catholic Church is responding, and how we can help through advocacy with our elected officials.”

This briefing is being conducted as part of Catholic Charities’ annual Faithful Citizenship Day. From 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. Catholic school and parish religious education staff will attend a forum on a teaching tool about economic justice published by the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. From 7:00-8:15 p.m. the public is invited to a presentation about the United States bishops’ statement on political responsibility.  

Faithful Citizenship is hosted by the parish social ministry department of Catholic Charities.  This department provides services for people in need and assists the 122 parishes of the Archdiocese of Louisville in strengthening their parish social ministry efforts, advocating for justice in social structures, and in calling the local Church and the community to do the same.  Catholic Charities is one of 20 service agencies of the Archdiocese of Louisville, which serves 200,000 Catholics in 24 counties of Central Kentucky.

WHAT:	Media Briefing on the Sudan, 1:30 p.m. Catholic Educators Forum, 1:00-3:30 p.m. Political Responsibility Presentation for Public, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
WHEN:	Tuesday, July 11, 2006
WHERE:	Our Lady of Lourdes Parish (Gym Area) 508 Breckenridge Lane