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Father Edward Town (right), parochial vicar at St. Monica Parish in South Philadelphia, stands with Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis on July 19, 2024. The two shared the mission and impact of CRS with Congress participants. (Photo courtesy of Father Edward Town)<\/p>\n
By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted March 13, 2026 <\/p>\n
The annual Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl<\/a> initiative was part of Father Edward Town<\/a>\u2019s childhood, just as it has been for countless Catholics in Philadelphia and across America.<\/p>\n The parochial vicar at St. Monica Parish in South Philadelphia has now become one of Catholic Relief Services\u2019 biggest champions in Philadelphia and across the United States.<\/p>\n As a CRS Global Fellow, he speaks and advocates for the organization\u2019s mission of empowering the poor globally and locally, and helping to establish local chapters for CRS.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to continue my involvement with Catholic Relief Services,\u201d Father Town said shortly after speaking about CRS to fifth graders in his area. He was ordained last<\/a> year for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n The focus for priests and deacons serving as global fellows is to speak \u201cwherever people are willing to listen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think the most important part of speaking is presenting yourself as someone who genuinely cares, and that is as a resource to people who want to help. It\u2019s not just a one-time interaction, but we\u2019re building a coalition, we\u2019re building relationships, and we\u2019re really building up the body of Christ (for) a more just world.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Monica Parish remains his prime responsibility, but this new calling to evangelize and motivate people to serve the needs of the world\u2019s poor and vulnerable comes from a long history of supporting CRS.<\/p>\n \u201cI previously was involved through the seminary partnership through CRS (and) led the (St. Charles Borromeo) seminary chapter for five or six years,\u201d Father Town said. \u201cI was so passionate about it because I really cared about it, I really believe in the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Father Town\u2019s work with CRS has included advocacy for Catholic Relief Services on Capitol Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was at the CRS national gathering in Washington, D.C. a couple summers ago, and to meet staff members of our representatives, our senators, to me was very powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a lot of friends who work on Capitol Hill. I studied political science and economics at Florida State University. I interned for a state senator who is now in Congress. To be in that environment with a collar on, really witnessing to my faith and recognizing that I\u2019m privileged to be here to promote the greatest cause is such an incredible joy.\u201d<\/p>\n He says that while there are many organizations that do great work, CRS and the Rice Bowl program, which was born in Pennsylvania<\/a>, offers an opportunity for people to empower assistance for the neediest worldwide as well as here in Philadelphia with a trustworthy organization.<\/p>\n \u201cCRS is unique in just the scope of what they do, but also in their expertise and their effectiveness, as well as the fact that they are the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic Church here in the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n About 25% of the money raised through CRS Rice Bowl stays here in the archdiocese, going to Nutritional Development Services as part of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia<\/a>, while about 75% goes to Catholic Relief Services and its international efforts.<\/p>\n Father Edward Town (right) stands with seminarian Paul Boyer at the world headquarters of Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 12, 2023. The two participated in a three-day national training as part of the CRS seminary partnership program. (Photo courtesy of Father Edward Town)<\/p>\n \u201cCRS is doing incredible work 365 days a year in over 100 countries for a couple hundred million people,\u201d Father Town said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I love about the Rice Bowl is that we live in probably the wealthiest country in the world, so we have the ability to help the people in need in our country in our local community, as well as globally. It\u2019s not an \u2018either-or.\u2019 There\u2019s enough money.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s especially important when it comes to funding international humanitarian aid. We\u2019re not choosing to help people overseas at the expense of helping people in our own country. We\u2019re choosing to follow the Gospel, which is to care for all the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n Father Town points out how subsidiarity \u2013 acting effectively on a local level first \u2013 and solidarity with others in need form the core of Catholic social teaching.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, we want to help at the most local level, but it\u2019s the solidarity that we\u2019re all brothers and sisters in Christ, and the subsidiarity component is that these countries don\u2019t have the wealth and the resources that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that the need to be involved in Catholic Relief Services has become more important than ever, due to a federal pause in $60 billion payments to USAID, a major source of funding for Catholic Relief Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the next five years, it\u2019s estimated that 14 million people will die because of the draconian cuts to international foreign aid,\u201d he said. \u201cTo most people, that would be unsettling, and I think people want to know that before it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Father Town believes CRS Rice Bowl is a major avenue for the Church to live her mission of compassion that knows no geography.<\/p>\n \u201cWe help other people because we\u2019re Catholic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe help other people because our faith knows no bounds, no border, no limit. That\u2019s why we help people.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Learn how to participate in CRS Rice Bowl here<\/a>, and contact Father Town at edwardtown@gmail.com<\/a> to invite him to speak locally about CRS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Father Edward Town (right), parochial vicar at St. Monica Parish in South Philadelphia, stands with Sean Callahan, president…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[63472,63473,63474,8364,69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-137966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-crs-global-fellow","9":"tag-crs-rice-bowl","10":"tag-father-edward-town","11":"tag-jay-sorgi","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","14":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1000002012-scaled-e1773349484604-415x553.jpeg\")
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