Why we need to support Catholic charities ?

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, the act of donating money or giving time and energy to a charitable cause is often hailed as something laudable.

What about us as Catholics? Do our social teachings have something special to say about giving money, time or talent to charitable causes?

First, though, it might be helpful to see what charitable giving is not. Charitable giving is not about gaining publicity or personal credit. Nor is charitable giving a means to compensate for wrongdoing, a way to help us to “score points for heaven”! Most importantly, charitable giving is not a way to escape from our responsibility for the well-being of others the whole year long.

In Scripture, we see the early disciples being “one in heart and soul”: “None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from the sale of them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any who might be in need” (Acts 4:34). What a beautiful description of a community!

Every Lent, Catholics in Singapore have an avenue to share our resources with those in need through the Charities Week collection. Proceeds go to organisations serving the needy in the name of the Church.

This is a good way of showing our solidarity with the less fortunate. But is there any special significance to channelling our resources, time and talent through Catholic charitable organisations?

Yes, there is. In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (“God is Love”), Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that as a community of disciples proclaiming the Gospel of Love in a broken world, the Church also needs to have organised charitable works that Christians undertake as one body in the name of Christ. “For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.” (Deus Caritas Est, 25a).

So even though each of us can give individually to other religious or secular charitable organisations (and this is an important sign of our solidarity with them), there is a special significance in supporting Catholic charities. Catholic charities represent the organised charitable works of the Church.

In Singapore, our Catholic social organisations serve a wide range of needs, from helping the poor, the sick and the aged, to championing the causes of refugees and migrants. The Church’s social action work also includes those in which not many other organisations are involved.

As part of her tradition, the Church has always had a preferential option for the poor, serving those most neglected by society and this is something we can be proud of. The Charities Week programme is an important channel for us to act as One Body by supporting the Church’s social organisations.

In giving with our whole heart, we pray that we might also be open to how else God is moving us to respond.

Source : Catholic News.

Pope prays for peace in Gaza

Image via WikipediaPOPE Benedict XVI on Thursday said he hoped 'violence, hatred and mistrust' would not prevail in the world in 2009, notably in the Middle East.

'Violence, hatred and mistrust are also forms of poverty - perhaps the greatest - that must be fought,' the pope said during a mass marking the Roman Catholic Church's traditional January 1 World Day of Peace, on the theme of fighting poverty and building peace.

Wearing white vestments and a gold mitre, the pope said: 'The deep desire to live in peace ... rises in the hearts of the great majority of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, once more placed in danger by the massive violence that has broken out in the Gaza Strip in response to other violence.'

'May this not prevail,' urged the pope, who may travel to the region next May, during the mass in St Peter's Basilica.

Pope Benedict had on Sunday denounced the violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, calling on the international community to help both sides abandon 'this dead-end road'.

The death toll from Israel's blitz on Hamas in Gaza rose to 400 on Thursday, the sixth day of its biggest military operation against the Palestinian territory in decades. Hamas also fired rockets into Israel as international efforts to secure a truce foundered.

The Vatican has yet to confirm that the pope will visit Israel and the occupied territories, reportedly set for May 8-15.

Last month a spokesman for Israeli President Shimon Peres said a Vatican delegation had come to Israel to discuss preparations for a possible visit.

The 81-year-old German pope also recalled his annual message for World Peace Day issued three weeks ago, in which he lambasted the global financial industry for creating an economic crisis with short-term thinking.

Pope Benedict warned that a number of low-income countries are marginalized from the world market.

He also accused rich states of holding poor countries hostage over fatal diseases, criticising global efforts to prevent the spread of malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, which he said were a common cause of poverty.

And he condemned an 'unacceptable' arms race at a time when the world is marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. -- AFP

Feast of Corpus Christi

Over the week-end Catholics celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi - the Body of Christ.

I came across "Eucharist should make us attentive to needs of the poor, Benedict XVI teaches" and would like to share it here with you.

Click on the link to read yourself.

Let's make an effort to remember the needy every time we receive the holy communion.

God Bless You!