This week’s story takes us to East Timor where Domingas is being supported in a Caritas-funded Family & Community Violence Prevention Program. Domingas, like many women in her community, was the victim of violence and abuse. The program has provided her with ongoing counselling and a small grant to enable her to build a business and give her economic independence. Your donation helps to support women survivors of violence and to work for just relationships.

Caritas Chile has been active for 30 years. Caritas Australia will support Caritas Chile from our donations to Project Compassion this Lent.

Second Sunday of Lent 28 February

Limited job opportunities, low family literacy levels and poor health and housing are some of the issues affecting poor school performance amongst Indigenous children in the area. Teneille participates in a Caritas Australia-supported program that is empowering children to attend school, have healthy and nutritious food and improve the school performance amongst the area’s children. Your donation to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion helps to work towards the goal of ensuring primary education for all children.

First Sunday of Lent 21 February

The good news of the Gospel challenges us to change ourselves and our world for the better. This week’s story takes us to rural Cambodia where Samon lives with his family. Life here is often a daily struggle. Caritas Australia is supporting 22 Cambodian communities, including Samon’s, with practical training in micro credit to increase families’ food production and livelihoods. Your generous donations to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion allow subsistence farmer families to gain skills to increase their household food security and offers hope for a healthier future.

This week’s story takes us to rural Cambodia where Samon lives with his family. Life here is often a daily struggle. Your generous donations to Project Compassion allow subsistence farmer families to gain skills to increase their household food security and offers hope for a healthier future.
PLEASE COLLECT YOUR PROJECT COMPASSION ENVELOPES OR BOXEXS FROM EITHER CHURCH THIS WEEKEND.

Thank you for your wonderful response to the Haiti appeal last weekend.
The amount of $2,158.65 was received.

The Haitians continue to hold funerals for 170,000 victims. Last week in the grounds of their ruined cathedral, the funeral of Archbishop Miot and Monsignor Benoit was held.
The oldest hospital St Francis de Sales Hospital was almost totally destroyed when the children’s ward collapsed onto the maternity ward which collapsed on the operating theatres. Now the hospital has partially reopened with help from Caritas and some Belgian doctors. They are doing a lot of amputations.
Next Sunday, we shall have a special collection for Caritas Haiti.

Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec 18 2009 (Zenit.org) – the biggest climate change talks of history wrapped up today amid a general sense of disappointment, but the Holy See had something hopeful to say.
Archbishop Celestino Migiliore, the leader of the Holy See delegation in Copenhagen and its permanent observer at the United Nations, said Thursday that the conference reiterates just how long it takes to come up with clear and firm political will.
But he said in his address to the conference, ‘society and local authorities did not wait for the expected political and legally binding conclusions of our meetings, which takes such an incredibly long time. Instead individuals, groups, local authorities and communities have already begun an impressive series of initiatives’.
The Archbishop gave some suggestions about why it is so hard for international leaders to come to a consensus.
‘Is this political will slow in taking shape due to the complexity of the interlinking issues that we must tackle’? he asked. ‘Is it mainly a problem of conflicting national interests? Or is it the difficulty in translating into numbers the by-now acquired principle of common and differentiated responsibility? Or is it still the predominance of energy policies over care of the environment’?
It’s all of the above, the prelate asserted. Regardless, he said there are two cornerstones of the response to climate change: adaption and mitigation. ‘While technical solutions are necessary, they are not sufficient. The wisest and most effective programs focus on information, education and the formation of the sense of responsibility in children and adults towards environmentally sound patterns of development and stewardship of creation,’ the prelate contended.
And according to Archbishop Migliore, these initiatives ‘have already started to build up a mosaic of experiences and achievements marked by a widespread ecological conversion. These new attitudes and behaviours have the potential to create the necessary intra-generational and inter-generational solidarity and dispel any sterile sense of fear, apocalyptic terror, overbearing control and hostility toward humanity that are multiplied in media accounts and other reports’.

The Vatican Delegation is being headed by the experienced diplomat Archbishop Celestino Migliore the Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN and includes experts on the environment.

Archbishop Migliore, addressing the UN General Assembly last November, said a new global strategy must seek long-term solutions and help alleviate poverty by giving special attention to developing countries. He warned against fostering short-term economic growth without regard to the environment, saying

we should not burden future generations with our overstated energy consumption.

Caritas Internationalis linking 150 Catholic charities will also be represented in Copenhagen. Caritas is bringing bishops and representatives from 25 countries. Caritas is promoting three criteria for solving the problem: by pledging money to developing countries, to keep global warming below 2 degrees and in developed countries cutting greenhouse gas emissions to below 40% of 1990 by 2020.

Caritas says Copenhagen conference is a ‘once-in-a-generation’ chance to save the human family from a future of climate chaos’ (full story—CNS Catholic News Service 03 Dec 09).

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the prophets of our time and may we be open to their teaching.

Fr Kevin

The Vatican Delegation is being headed by the experienced diplomat Archbishop Celestino Migliore the Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN and includes experts on the environment.

Archbishop Migliore, addressing the UN General Assembly last November, said a new global strategy must seek long-term solutions and help alleviate poverty by giving special attention to developing countries. He warned against fostering short-term economic growth without regard to the environment, saying

we should not burden future generations with our overstated energy consumption.

Caritas Internationalis linking 150 Catholic charities will also be represented in Copenhagen. Caritas is bringing bishops and representatives from 25 countries. Caritas is promoting three criteria for solving the problem: by pledging money to developing countries, to keep global warming below 2 degrees and in developed countries cutting greenhouse gas emissions to below 40% of 1990 by 2020.

Caritas says Copenhagen conference is a ‘once-in-a-generation’ chance to save the human family from a future of climate chaos’ (full story—CNS Catholic News Service 03 Dec 09).

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the prophets of our time and may we be open to their teaching.

Fr Kevin