CARITAS Manila, the lead social services and development ministry of the Archdiocese of Manila, successfully launched its commemorative book, Love for the Poor—The Story of Caritas Manila, in celebration of 60 joyful years of serving the poor. The event was held on April 7 at the Ayala Museum with Ayala Corp. as sponsor through the generosity of philanthropist and Caritas Manila Trustee Fernando Zobel de Ayala.
The coffeetable book tells the story of love received and given over the course of Caritas Manila’s six-decade journey of helping the poor and the vulnerable in our society.
The mustard seed called Catholic Charities that the Archdiocese of Manila planted in 1953 has become the tree called Caritas Manila. For more than 60 years, Caritas Manila has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals and families rise from poverty and assume their proper roles as Christian citizens of the Philippines.
Today Caritas Manila runs diverse projects that help the poor fulfill their human potential, such as the Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP), All is Well Health Program, Restorative Justice Ministry, Caritas Damayan and social entrepreneurship programs Caritas Margins and Segunda Mana. Those and several others like them have, through the years, manifested the love that the archdiocese has for the poor.
The book paints a broad picture of the good work that Caritas Manila does for church and nation. It traces the growth of the charitable institution, describes many of its projects, and assesses its role in the development of the individual and of society.
“To continue doing its good work for the hungry, the jobless, the sick, the imprisoned, the uneducated, the disaster victims and others in need, Caritas Manila relies on a huge number of kindhearted persons who donate their time, energy, talents, money and resources. The book shows why these donors—as well as the beneficiaries of their kindness, who themselves in turn donate their time, talent, and treasure—continue to support Caritas Manila in its vision and mission of transforming society into a society of love,” the author Isagani Cruz wrote.
Ramon V. del Rosario Jr., vice chairman of Caritas Manila, officially opened the book launch. A member of the book team and Board of Trustees of Caritas Manila, lawyer Gizela Gonzalez-Montinola gave the background of the book.
I handed the ceremonial first copy of the book to His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, chairman of Caritas Manila.
Cardinal Tagle gave a message to the beneficiaries of Caritas Manila: “We thank in a special way the many beneficiaries of Caritas projects. You are precious not only to the church, you are precious to society, and this is the reason there is such a project, a group, an institution called Caritas Manila. We hope you don’t remain just as recipients of love. [You must] generate love wherever you are and you’ll make this country a better place to live in.”
Tagle also gave a special copy of the book Love for the Poor—The Story of Caritas Manila to the Ferrera family, one of Caritas Manila’s family-beneficiaries from Quiapo. Jessica Ferrera, daughter of Jessel and Carolina Ferrera is a youth servant leader of Caritas Manila. She graduated cum laude from the Eugelio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (Earist).
More than 150 friends and guests supported the event. All 60th year commemorative books purchased during the event were signed by the author and Tagle.
Proceeds of the book will help sustain Caritas Manila’s YSLEP. To date, Caritas Manila has helped over 10,000 students to graduate. Caritas Manila continues to provide educational assistance, values formation workshops and leadership trainings to almost 5,000 YSLEP scholars nationwide.
Each book costs only P5,000. To purchase a book, contact Caritas Manila’s DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857 or log on to www.caritasmanila.org.ph for more information.
(Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium resumes in the next column)
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For comments, e-mail caritas_manila@yahoo.com. For donations to Caritas Manila, call 563-9311. For inquiries, call 563-9308 or 563-9298. Fax: 563-9306.
2 comments
Wow! 🙁
Wow so nice! 🙂