New Delhi: A leading Jesuit activist from India is among those invited to help the worldwide Caritas organization in its search for a “poor Church for the poor.”
Fr Cedric Prakash will address more than 400 Caritas delegates, Vatican representatives, NGOs and religious leaders, who are expected in Rome for the May 12-17 General Assembly of the Catholic Church’s major social wing.
The quadrennial assembly will begin with a special Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica. The delegates then move to Rome’s Domus Mariae for the assembly where speakers such as Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and theologian Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez will address them.
Caritas Internationalis President, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, will open the event which focuses on the theme: “One Human Family, Caring for Creation.”
Fr Prakash, who directs Prashant (tranquility), a center for human rights, justice and peace in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, will talk on how to reduce inequalities and achieve a really sustainable development during a two-hour session at 3 pm on May 13.
During the six days the assembly will study how growing inequalities are posing a challenge to the human family and the effects of climate change on development.
The delegates will also study food security and review the world wide organization’s campaign for the right to food with the help from experts, pastors and representatives of Caritas grassroots work.
The assembly will study new economic and social approaches to ensure a more human, equitable and sustainable development for all.
“We know that you work together with many people on these issues,” said the letter of invitation that Fr Prakash received from Caritas Secretary General Michel Roy.
The Jesuit priest left for Rome on May 8.
Vatican Radio reported that “a palpable wave of excitement” has pervaded Caritas Internationalis offices in Rome as they are getting ready to welcome entire Caritas “family” comprising delegates from 164 member organizations across the globe.
They will elect new leaders for the organization and decdide the confederation’s strategic direction for the next four years.
Roy told the Vatican Radio that the assembly is an important moment to report on the campaign: “One Human Family, Food For All” which aims to end hunger by 2025.
The assembly will end on May 19 by celebrating the ‘Caritas Day’ at the Expo 2015 in Milan. “This will be the top moment for the campaign and also its last public moment,” Roy said.
He says that the massive international Milan event (on the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”) has dedicated one day to Caritas “just as they do with governments and States and it will be an opportunity to account for what the organization has been doing in the past one and a half years with the campaign.”
Roy acknowledged the impact of Pope Francis on the work of Caritas during the past two years. “Pope Francis has brought a different atmosphere” he said.
“There is not much new in the teachings of the Church which are very strong on the importance of putting human beings in the center of development and growth. But the style of Pope Francis, his closeness to the people, his pastoral approach has brought a different dynamic, and we are called and pushed by Pope Francis to go forward, especially in helping the Church to become what he calls a poor Church for the poor,” the Caritas leader said.
According to him the mission of charity is the Church’s third pillar after its teachings and the Sacraments.
The pillar, he added, got pushed forward by Pope Francis who “really does help the Christian community at the grassroots to undertake initiatives and to work more with the poor and bring them inside society.”