Introducing Caritas Spirituality at Duc Trong Diocese

INTRODUCING CARITAS SPIRITUALITY IN DUC TRONG DISTRICT.

“Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

Developing the Caritas network is one of the activities Caritas Dalat aims to have, so that more people understand, love and live Caritas spirituality. At 8:30 on Saturday, May 21, 2022, about 50 grandparents, brothers and sisters from parishes: An Hoa, Nghia Lam, Kim Phat, Nam Ban, Thanh Binh, Bac Hoi,... gathered at Nghia Lam Parish, Duc Trong Parish to participate in an introduction to Caritas spirituality. Present at the meeting were Father Anthony Dinh Quang Thai, Executive Officer and members of the Caritas Representative Board of Duc Trong District, Caritas Dalat Office (Sr Anna Tran Hang, Sister Maria Goretti Hong Phuc, Sister Maria Thanh Nhan).

The purpose of the meeting is to help participants understand Caritas spirituality and be inspired to live the Caritas spirit (Love - Serve), understand Caritas activities, and know and understand the membership membership process.

Sr. Anna Hang shares about Caritas Spirituality: 'Caritas' (original Latin): Love - Charity. Caritas is a sign of God's love for everyone, an organization in the Catholic Church with the task of coordinating and promoting the practice of social charity. Caritas is not a purely social charity agency, and Caritas members do not do charity work with the same motivation, intention or manner as a social worker. Sr. emphasized that you need to grasp 3 main points: Identity - who am I (caritas member)? Mission - what do I do? Spirituality - how do I live?

After hearing the introduction to Caritas spirituality, Maria Nhan helped the TDV group discuss. To create a spirit of working together, before group work, each group chooses its own slogan: Service, love, charity, humility, solidarity. Groups work on suggested questions: (1) What is going out of your comfort zone? (2) What is the importance of reconciliation when working together in charity? (3) "Listening" skills when doing charity work? (4) How is “respect for human dignity” necessary in practicing charity?(5) What specific actions to protect the environment and ecology? The working spirit of each member is very enthusiastic and brings out the necessary values ​​when doing charity work: It is necessary to have a prayer life before reaching out to the poor (materially, spiritually), putting ourselves in the situation of our brothers and sisters (the poor) to sympathize, appreciate, love them as they are, and see God's presence in the poor, the people we have the opportunity to serve.Besides that, we must give up our ego, sacrifice, forget ourselves, step out of the safe and comfortable place of our home, our heart, our group... to go to our brothers and sisters in need (late at night, some people are dying, come to read prayers, bathe their bodies when they die, try to see the positive things in our brothers and sisters, be ready for God's call...). Likewise, when doing charity work, we need to have the skills of "listening" and "reconciliation". When we listen actively, listening with all our hearts, we can know the needs of those in need and help members actively contribute constructively, creating spillover and effectiveness in their work.It also takes a lot of courage to take the first step to "reconcile", to dispel tensions and taboos, to help us get closer, understand, sympathize, share, and bond with each other.Likewise, the protection of the environment and ecology is of concern to the volunteers, because the environment affects our lives. When protecting the environment, we protect ourselves, with activities: saving electricity and water, sorting trash, sweeping, cleaning the living environment, planting trees, caring for the poor, etc. Above are a few valuable points that the volunteers discussed from the groups, hoping to help the volunteers live concretely the identity of Caritas members as messengers of love for God. God and Gospel Witness, to make people know and live in God's love.

In order for TDV to better understand and understand the mission of Caritas, TDV was introduced to the activities (2021-2022) - orientation (2022) of Caritas Dalat Office, Caritas District and Caritas Parish, specifically:

Ms. Hong Phuc shared about the activities and orientation of Caritas Dalat

Caritas Dalat's activities:

(1) Building the Caritas network,

(2) Take care of the common home through:

Listen to the cry of the earth: Live Laudato si week (from April 24 - May 25, 2021 and from May 22-29, 2022), celebrate the Season of Creation (from September 1 - October 4 every year), "Together We" campaign, starting December 13, 2021, lasting 3 years (2021-2023) includes activities: Mass in nature, prayer sessions, online seminars, outdoor prayer sessions, Laudato Si and Environmental Protection training, Community groups organize tree planting...

Listening to the cries of the poor: Campaign of loving agricultural products sent to people in the 2019 Covid epidemic area. Programs: charity, health care, education promotion, "Protect Life", supporting persons with disabilities to integrate into the community, supporting mental patients at Trong Duc Men and Women Social Facility, people's self-development (PLD), sub-projects, connecting with other organizations, online courses, learning exchange forums... precious TDV was somewhat surprised but very excited to hear the activities shared. They did not think Caritas would have such activities.

Caritas Dalat's 2022 Orientation: Responding to the invitation of Bishop Thomas Aquino Vu Dinh Hieu, Chairman of the Social Committee - Caritas VN, with the 2022 theme: "taking care of the common home together", Caritas Dalat will continue to commit and promote the Caritas parish network to form caring communities so that villages, parishes, and homeland become a beautiful and livable common home. As a messenger of God's love, Caritas Dalat: (1) Protects life and respects human dignity, (2) Helps the poor, suffering and abandoned, (3) Protects the environment and ecology. Helps develop a comprehensive person. Listen to God's call, be ready to step out of your comfort zone, to find places in need of the light of the Gospel.

Next, Father Anthony Quang Thai, Caritas District Special Officer, introduced the organizational structure - functions - program of activities of the District Social Committee - Caritas District:

The Ordinariate's organizational structure includes: Priest in Charge Anthony, 1 head of department, 2 vice-committees, 1 secretary, 1 treasurer.

Structure of Clusters: parishes in the district are divided into 3 clusters, according to geographical location, each cluster has a leader, whose role is to learn, invite and connect parishes in the cluster.

Functions of Caritas County: Functions of the representative board of Social Charity - Caritas district - Create solidarity between the social charity boards in the district and between districts - Develop the Caritas network in your district - Provide training to improve the capacity of Caritas members - Link with the Diocesan Caritas office to organize programs in the region or in the district.

Activities from 2019-2022: In 2019, a network of district-level activities was formed - the Representative Board of the District Social Committee - Caritas was established. In 2020, expand the network to parishes, especially parishes that do not yet have Caritas members. In 2021, organize an introduction to Caritas spirituality for the Caritas Parish Executive Board and new members. Responding to the invitation of Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Si in parishes with activities: Praying, collecting waste, collecting trash, sweeping, cleaning the living environment... Caritas County Representative Board meetings in April, August, December.At the same time, continue to carry out the activities in the 2020 plan. In 2022, continue to promote the expansion of the Caritas network in parishes that do not yet exist, and organize the introduction of Caritas spirituality to new members of parishes and families in the district. Participate in communion programs in parishes.

Representatives of parishes (An Hoa, Doan Ket, Tung Nghia, Thanh Binh, Nam Ban, Bac Hoi,...) shared about the formation of the parish BXH - Caritas Board and some of the activities that the BXH - Caritas Board has been carrying out in the parishes. Most parish Social Security - Caritas Boards are formed from small groups (2-3 people), from small, silent jobs such as: Visiting the poor, the sick, families in difficult circumstances, sweeping, beautifying the living environment, etc.The members did not hesitate to face difficulties, served with love and charity, this touched the hearts of the people in the parish, and they also wanted to participate, from 2-3 members, some parishes had up to 50-60 members, from 2-3 million VND, now they have funds to work for the whole year.Currently, many parishes are having charitable activities: study promotion programs; distribute monthly gifts to the poor and sick; help source micro-credit loans; build a house of love; Emergency support in case of natural disasters, fires, charity kitchens at hospitals and for poor families; help poor people in remote areas; build a house of love; drilling wells for ethnic minorities,...Along with charitable activities, in order to have funds for activities, the Parish Social Committee - Caritas Board has many fundraising initiatives such as: The Parish Father placed a Caritas money box in the church; Organize singing to raise funds to help the poor; Organizing lotteries - fundraising raffles; Organize a prayer ceremony for the patient, invite benefactors to participate and donate money to help; Organize a monthly benefactor association; Call for waste collection in parishes; Members voluntarily contribute to help the poor, etc. Volunteers feel happy and meaningful when hearing the above sharing and are eager to join Caritas Vietnam members..

One of the important items in the meeting is how volunteers can know and understand the process of joining Caritas Vietnam including the steps:

Step 1: Learn about Caritas organization

Step 2: Learn Caritas Vietnam's Charter and Rules locally

Step 3: Register to become a member of Caritas Vietnam

Step 4: Receive the decision to confirm your Caritas Vietnam membership status

Step 5: Be accepted in the joining ceremony and receive the Caritas Vietnam Membership Card.

* Decision: membership card fund and method of use.

Thank God for allowing us to have this meeting to learn about Caritas spirituality. We hope that the Caritas network will spread to more people and more parishes, so that the spirit of service in "Love - Charity" can be lived more specifically and clearly, to glorify God and bring joy and happiness to those we have the opportunity to meet and serve. The meeting ended with a fraternal meal, everyone left with joy and happiness.

Caritas Dalat Network