The President of Caritas Pretoria has called for the establishment of Caritas offices at every parish within the Archdiocese.
“Every Priest must make sure that there is a Caritas office in his parish, it is not an optional extra, it is an integral part of what we are about as a church and who we are called to be as church,” said Archbishop Dabula Mpako during the Saturday, June 24 Caritas workshop for parish coordinators.
Addressing Caritas coordinators gathered at Christ the King Catholic Church in Queenswood, Pretoria, Archbishop Mpako explained that “reaching out to the needy, the poor, and vulnerable is a very important part and aspect of the mission of the church.”
“Caritas means charity,” he remarked, and added, “An important part of what we are supposed to be about as church is to care for those who can’t care for themselves. To assist those who are most in need of experiencing the love and caring of God. And when we do not do that, we are failing in being the kind of church that we are called upon to be.”
In a conversation with the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) communications office, Archbishop Mpako said that “it is gratifying to see” the establishment of Caritas offices at the parish level, almost a year after the establishment of the Archdiocesan Commission for Caritas and Migrants and Refugees in July 2022.
“For some time now we’ve been working at establishing Caritas in our parishes and we have also managed to establish Caritas at the archdiocesan level. So, we’ve been looking forward to a time when we can bring together all those involved in this ministry in the different parishes so that we can think together, reflect together, and also empower them so that they can see more clearly how to carry out this ministry,” said Archbishop Mpako in the June 24 interview.
Meanwhile, in her address the coordinator of Caritas Pretoria underscored “listening” in reaching out to the poor, the needy and the vulnerable in the community.
“We cannot reach out to the poor and the vulnerable when we have not listened to them to actually know what they require from us, what do they need from us. Sometimes we just presume that they need food parcels, they need clothes, they need water, but we have not listened to them to actually know their exact needs. When we are able to listen to them and communicate with them, interact with them, then we are treating them with dignity,” said Sr Franka Dzeaye.
According to Sr Dzeaye Caritas together with the migrants and refugees’ office “have assisted local schools with potable water during the cholera outbreak.”
During the June 24 Caritas workshop which saw the participation of over 100 coordinators from six deaneries, Archbishop Mpako commended the members of the Archdiocesan Commission for Caritas, Migrants and Refugees for ensuring that sodalities and other charity bodies “operate as one united local church with one vision and one common coordinated pastoral plan of action.”
For some of the participants, the daylong workshop was “impressing” and “very informative.”
