Caritas Philippines calls on the faithful to help the poor

PALO, LEYTE, Philippines — Man should stop separating spirituality from his life to be able to reach out and help the poor, according to Caritas Philippines, locally known as the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), during the culmination of the 40-day Alay Kapwa fund drive of the Archdiocese of Palo.

Father Ed Gariguez, executive director of Caritas Philippines-NASSA of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said man should integrate spirituality with life, as propounded by Pope Francis’ homily recently at the Vatican, warning people from the dangers of “subtle sin” of worldliness.

“Not all churchgoers are good people,” said Gariguez, reminding the members of the Social Action Commissions from various parishes in the Palo Archdiocese about the church‘s mission, as outlined in the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, of involving the participation of the lay-faithful in helping the poor.

The 2nd PCP’s consensus was built upon the foundation set in the Second Vatican Council, which declared the church as “Church of the Poor,” and as church in the modern world has the duty of caring for the poor, Gariguez said.

Gariguez cited Matthew 25 as the biblical basis on how man can develop stronger relationship with God, and that the commandments of loving God and neighbor imparted the true essence of helping.

“You can truly help the church if you help the poor, those you do not know and those who really need help. Poverty is a development issue and could be addressed by charity. We should develop the passion to serve with joy,” Gariguez said.

The Caritas official said this has been the reason behind in making the people participate in its social action apostolate, such as the Alay Kapwa program.

The CBCP’s Alay Kapwa program, now in its 40th year, is an avenue for the lay-faithful and churchgoers to join in the church’s desire to help the poor, said Gariguez.

Palo Archbishop John Du, treasurer of both the CBCP and Caritas Philippines, expounded the need to support Alay Kapwa fund drive, which portion of the proceeds will go to Caritas, which helped Yolanda survivors and the local church. “It is now our time to help after we have recovered from typhoon Yolanda,” he said.

Father Elmo Manching, director of the Archdiocesan Social Action Commission, could not however provide the exact amount raised in the fund drive, saying that remittances from parishes kept on coming to the archdiocese.

Manching told reporters that the archdiocese’s share from Alay Kapwa will be used to fund various social action programs, such as livelihood and poverty alleviation, disaster response and rehabilitation, charitable and responsible ecology, helping the prisoners and scholarship for indigent but deserving students, among others. —Eileen Nazareno-Ballesteros (FREEMAN)