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Appeal to Caritas Sunday the 28th of September 2014
All Catholic churches in Norway will celebrate Caritas Sunday on the 28th of September. This is an expression of solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Together with the whole church and Caritas, we will help to make the world a better place. All collections on this day will go to Caritas’s work.
Caritas international has an ongoing campaign entitled,» One human family, food for all.» This campaign focuses on the importance of brotherhood between different people and groups in the fight against poverty and malnutrition.
Pope Francis highlights that Caritas`, the church’s own organization’s, work is central to the Churches mission to the world. When the apostles said to Jesus that those who came to hear him preach are hungry. Jesus asked them to find food. The only thing they had were five loaves of bread and two fish, but with God’s grace they managed to feed the masses while collecting leftovers so nothing went to waste.
The Pope goes on to say, “We are facing a global scandal. About one billion are still suffering from hunger today. We can not look the other way and pretend this is not happening. There is enough food to feed everyone… That’s why I invite you to make room in your hearts for this crisis and respect all people’s God-given right to have access to enough food. I ask you, therefore, from the depths of my heart, to support our Caritas organizations in their noble campaign where we act as one family to ensure food for all. Let us pray that the Lord will give us the grace to one day see a world where no one will have to die of starvation. We ask for this grace!”
Caritas Norway is working actively on food security in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This is the work we are proud of and makes a difference. In the first half of 2014 Caritas Norway has contributed to training over 1,600 farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in effective agriculture. Some farmers have been given a five-fold increase of the crop, and expect continued growth. In this way they manage not only to feed their own families, but also gain a profit which improves their quality life and of others. This is just one of many examples that are making a difference.
To put an end to hunger and malnutrition one must also work on a more general level. Therefore, Caritas also works on a local, national and international level.
In the year 2000 all word countries agreed to the UN Millennium Development Goal 8 which would work towards reaching this goal until 2015. The first and most important of these MDGs, the fight against extreme poverty and hunger. By 2015 there was a desire to cut the number in half of the proportion of people who suffer from chronic or prolong starvation, between 2010 and 2012, the percentage decreased to 14.9 percent!
On the 28th of September it is Caritas Sunday and there will be an offering for Caritas making a better a better world. Caritas hopes for great generosity in solidarity with our brothers and sisters on all continents. We hope and believe that the good will be seen on this event and it will not just be a single act, but is expressing a growing involvement in efforts to build a culture of charity, so that one day we can live in a world where poverty and hunger do not exist.