By Matters India Reporter
New York: A Vatican agency that funds the Eastern Churches across the globe has rushed aid to its partners in India to help the country meet the challenge from the coronavirus pandemic.
“India is in crisis. The country is battling a growing humanitarian disaster, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads and claims more lives every day,” says the New York-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) in an appeal for donations.
The agency has launched an emergency campaign to help India’s local Churches respond to the escalating Covid-19 crisis, announced Monsignor Peter I. Vaccari, its president. “We cannot watch this catastrophe unfold and not share the heartbreak and feel the need to help,” Monsignor Vaccari wrote in the appeal to donors.
The agency says it wants its Indian partners to use the aid to help distribute vaccines, PPE equipment, food and health care. “But it is impossible to keep up with the demand. Please give whatever you can to our brothers and sisters in India,” says the appeal posted on the agency’s website.
The agency supports Eastern Churches in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, and Eastern Europe, besides India. Its India office is at Kakkanad, a suburb in Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala.
CNEWA provides funds so that Eastern churches and religious sisters can manage clinics, schools, orphanages and other sanctuaries for the poor and those on the peripheries.
The agency also appeals its supporters to join them to pray for India. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India observed May 7 as a day of prayer and fasting, to seek divine intervention and protection against Covid-19.
CNEWA appeal coincides with Pope Francis call to Catholics around the world to pray the rosary during May, asking the Blessed Virgin to intercede to bring an end to the pandemic.
It says the number of people infected with the virus and death from the disease grows by the hour. “The need is urgent,” it says.
India, with more than 20 million reported cases, is second only to the United States in number of infections, and some believe the number of cases are under-reported because people are dying at home,- without medical care.
More than 220,000 Indians have died of Covid-19. Media have shown images of mass funeral pyres, overwhelmed hospitals, a lack of beds and oxygen, and a population overcome with grief.
CNEWA works with the Eastern Catholic churches to identify needs and implement solutions.
It helps child care institutions such as schools, orphanages and centers for children with special needs. It cares for the marginalized and rushes emergency relief to the needy. Its healthcare program supports maternity clinics, hospitals and social service centers.