“Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.”  Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Since its founding in 1978, PTPA has grown to become the largest, most significant organization of its kind. 

  • More than 300 U.S. parishes twinned with parishes in Haiti and Latin America
  • U.S. parishes located in 78 Catholic dioceses in 31 states
  • More than $50 million in aid provided by U.S. parishes to impoverished Catholic communities

Through seeing and touching poverty, U.S. parishes have experienced not only the physical needs, but also the humility, dignity, joy, patience and love of the people themselves and a new awareness of the breadth of the Catholic Church and its mission throughout the world.