Caritas Dalat Plans "Together We" Campaign - "Together We"

MEETING TO PLAN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CAMPAIGN

“WE ARE TOGETHER - (TOGETHER WE)”

“…All of us, can cooperate as God's instruments to help creation, each according to his culture, experience, commitment and abilities.” (Laudato Si, no. 14)

Let us “together” care for the Common Home and the poor. At 8:30 on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at the Dalat Pastoral Center, the Catitas Dalat "We are Together" campaign promotion committee had a meeting to plan the implementation of the three-year campaign (2021-2024).Present at the meeting were 24 members (Ms. Maria Goretti Dinh Thi Hong Phuc - Deputy Director of Caritas Dalat, Father Giues Tran Duc Thanh - Caritas in charge of Bao Loc County, Father Martino Nguyen Dinh Huy Hoang - Caritas in charge of Di Linh County, Father Paul Truong Minh Cao, Sj and a number of members of the Caritas District and Parish Representative Board, Caritas Dalat and collaborators.The content of the meeting is based on the letter of: Cardinal Luis Antonio TAGLE - President of Caritas International, Bishop Thomas Aquino Vu Dinh Hieu - President of the Social Committee of Caritas Vietnam, and the campaign implementation plan of the Caritas Vietnam Campaign Coordination Board. On that foundation, the Board promotes the "we are together" campaign of Caritas Diocese, offering practical, specific activities suitable to the local environment to care for the Common Home and the poor and deploy the campaign in the next 3 years.

Before giving her testimony, Ms. Hong Phuc - Deputy Director of Caritas Dalat introduced the campaign: The "we are together" campaign initiated by Caritas Internationalis, with the hope of bringing the messages of Pope Francis's Laudato Si and Fratelle Tutti into reality. The campaign launched on December 13, 2021. Cardinal Luis Antonio TAGLE - President of Caritas Internationalis wrote: “…We hope the campaign will create an opportunity for all Caritas organizations and other organizations of goodwill to join common efforts to care for our Common Home, and for the poor as one human family….The “We Are Together” campaign invites Caritas organizations around the world to promote the building of Communities of Care – that is, groups and networks of workers from the grassroots level who will introduce new concrete measures to care for the common home and for the poor.”

In the same spirit, on November 25, 2021, Bishop Thomas Aquinas Vu Dinh Hieu - President of the Social Committee of Caritas Vietnam wrote: "... The Central Caritas Office launched the "Together We" campaign, lasting 3 years (2021-2024), with the slogan "Act today for a better tomorrow". The main message of this campaign is to take care of our children together. people and care for nature according to the teachings of the encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelle Tutti.  Local Caritas (national, diocesan, parish) are invited to launch the campaign and have specific activities...", (Letter No. 35/01/2021/CVN).Going on the journey with the Church, on December 23, 2021, Bishop Thomas Aquinas wrote: “Laudato Si”, “Fratelli Tutti”, “Joining”, “We Together”… all have the same meaning as “Together We” (Together We), the name of the campaign, emphasizing the urgency of collaboration between members of the Caritas family. No one can be successful or peaceful...if they go it alone, if they don't "work together", if they don't "go together".The Bishop suggested the theme for 2022 is "Together, taking care of the common home" inviting members of the Caritas Vietnam family, from Caritas Parish, Diocese, and Diocese member levels, to organize local communities and guide brothers and sisters, so that the community itself can think and propose specific activities to care for their living environment. (Letter No. 40/01/2021/CVN).

For Caritas Dioceses to follow the same roadmap, on March 22-23, 2022 Father Peter Nguyen Trong Duong - Head of the Caritas Vietnam campaign coordination committee shared the campaign roadmap including:

Year 1: Raising awareness for the community,

Year two: Action: Promote and implement activities to care for the Common Home and the poor,

Third year: Monitoring - evaluating Campaign activities.

Sister Maria Goretti Hong Phuc emphasized: our purpose is to think together and take action in the next 3 years in the Diocese, District, and Parish.

Following Sr. Anna Tran Thi Hang - Special Charge of the "We Together" Campaign Promotion Committee of Caritas Dalat, introduced Caritas International's Global Campaign "We Are Together" (2021-2024): Call to action - building a community that cares for the Common Home and the poor.

What does “Community of Care” mean? Communities of Care are Groups made up of parishioners, Diocesan representatives, youth clubs and members of the community at large, who are willing to share space for dialogue and action around the care of the Common Home and the care of the poor.

Main message of the campaign:

1- The deterioration of our Common Home, made worse by the current global pandemic, has had an impact on everyone, especially those in difficulty, marginalized and facing countless other forms of vulnerability.

2- We invite all Caritas groups at all levels, to form communities of care to act on the urgent need to restore, protect and renew the Common Home for the benefit of all, especially the poorest and most vulnerable in society, with the aim of promoting human dignity.

3- We see this as a concrete issue of social justice, because the current crisis not only negatively affects livelihoods and human rights but also degrades human dignity.

Based on the plan to implement the "We are together" campaign of the Caritas Vietnam Coordinating Committee, Sr. Anna Hang presented a sketch of the plan to implement the "We are together" campaign of Caritas Dalat, including: 3 closely followed goals of Caritas Vietnam.

Next, the participants discussed in groups. After a period of very exciting work, members of the Campaign Promotion Committee agreed and came up with the Action Plan of Caritas Dalat's "We are Together" campaign (2021 - 2024) with:

Slogan: act today for a better tomorrow.

The purpose of the campaign: because of the deterioration of the Common Home and because of the danger of the global pandemic, which has disproportionately affected everyone, especially the poor, the homeless and the vulnerable. We join hands to care for the Common House and the poor, following the invitation of the Holy Father.

Action plan:

Objective 1: Raise community awareness

1.       Human resources:

ü  The “We are Together” Campaign Committee of Dalat GP:

§  District Priest in Charge of Caritas, and a number of brothers and sisters (list attached)

§  Head: Sr. Anna Tran Thi Hang, fmm

§  Deputy: Ms. Touneh Ma Tina, Gx Diom

§  Communication: connecting with Parishes.

2.       Training/coaching:

ü  Should be organized by Diocese/Parish, first there needs to be an introduction and awareness session.

3.       Communication:

ü  Communication is necessary to raise awareness and connect communities.

ü  Media products: images, videos, articles, etc. are posted on the social networking sites of the Parish and Diocese, and please send them to the Caritas Office to post on the website,… Caritas Dalat and Caritas Vietnam.

4.       Organize a campaign week: Organize prayer/adoration sessions that integrate messages and integrate them into workshops to help people become aware.

Objective 2: Promote and implement activities

ü  Start with the most dynamic groups such as youth, children, and catechists to launch movements with specific activities.

ü  Establish a community of care: agree to maintain existing communities, but push the network further, create more awareness, and invite more members to participate.

ü  Typical model: Lac Lam Parish of the Dominican Order will share its model of action.

ü  Promotion: take advantage of the Diocese page for communication, send products to Caritas Office and encourage each other to do communication.

ü  Learning exchange: combined with meeting time with Diocesan Caritas to exchange and share experiences. There also needs to be exchange and learning of experiences between Dioceses.

ü  Maintain and promote existing activities:

§  Rice distribution

§  Visiting to help families who are lonely or sick or disabled.

§  Segregate degradable and non-degradable waste

§  Activities of planting trees and consciously picking up trash.

§  Collaborate with localities to make "Green Sunday"

ü  Wish:

- The Parish Priests are the ones who know and understand the "we are together" campaign, from which you invite the Parishes to implement it so that it can spread.

- There is connection at the district level regarding activities, masses, prayers, and retreats according to the invitation of the Pope.

Goal 3: Monitoring & evaluation: Caritas Office proactively.

Thank God for giving us time to sit together to discuss and come up with a plan to implement the "Together We" campaign in the next three years (2021-2024). What God has started, let Him complete. I hope the message "We are together" will spread to many people and parishes to join hands to care for the "Common Home and the poor" according to the invitation of the Church.