RP's Catholic churches to hold 2nd collection for Haiti

Starting Sunday, Catholic churches nationwide will hold second collections during mass to help bring relief to victims of the powerful quake that devastated Haiti last week. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Bishop Nereo Odchimar made the call Saturday after consulting with members of the CBCP Permanent Council last Friday night. “We pray for those who have perished, for the injured and for the displaced at this difficult and sad time," he said on the CBCP news site, adding the CBCP will “do its part in assisting our brothers and sisters in Haiti." Aside form the second collection, the CBCP’s social action arm is also preparing to send $10,000 (P458,750) from its “Alay Kapwa" funds to Haiti for relief assistance work there. Parishes are requested to take the second collection in all masses that will be held this Sunday in all parishes across the country.

Odchimar said the tragedy unfolding in Haiti is heartbreaking and it calls on the people to action to help the people affected by the tremor. He added the CBCP, though modestly, has collaborated in past relief efforts with bishops’ conferences in other countries whenever there are big calamities that befell other peoples. The latest such collaboration was in the wake of a tsunami that hit Banda Aceh in Indonesia in 2004. “Now it’s our turn to extend assistance to the victims in Haiti," Odchimar said. Meanwhile, CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA-JP) Executive Secretary Sr. Roseanne Mallillin said she will recommend the release of $10,000 for relief aid. She said she will recommend to the Board of Directors led by Chairman and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo to release the amount from “Alay Kapwa" funds. Appeals for relief Caritas Internationalis head Patrick Nicholson appealed to Filipinos for help through Church-run Radio Veritas, asking Filipinos to donate food, medicine, blankets and other aid. He asked them to give their donations to the local Caritas agency and for the agency to contact Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Church’s relief and development agency. Caritas would also send monetary donations to Caritas Haiti to buy food and other equipment needed for relief work, he said. Filipino Archbishop Bernardito Auza, nuncio to Haiti, similarly appealed for help in a message to Radio Veritas on Thursday. “We are in great difficulty, we do not have water reserves and gasoline stations are closed," went an English translation of his message, posted on the Union of Catholic Asian News Website. Auza said Catholic Relief Services, (CRS), the international humanitarian agency of the United States bishops, has a presence in Haiti. But he said the center of operation was transferred because “everything is very difficult, we have nothing left here" in Port-au-Prince. He also reported the death of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince, who was standing on the balcony of the archdiocesan office when the tremors started. “There are also a number of priests and Religious who died and were recovered from under buildings" but many others remain missing and are believed to be under rubble, he added. “The situation is really terrible and we are asking for help, but at this time no help has arrived," he added. - LBG, GMANews.TV