Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - Practice charity in the season of Advent and acts of solidarity with people in North Korea living in poverty and hunger: this exhortation was part of a message for the 24 national Caritas Day Sunday 16 December organised by the Catholic Church in South Korea. The message is signed by the head of the Korean Bishops' commission for Caritas, Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, who urges Catholics to remember “For Christians charity is following the example of Jesus Christ by putting into practice God's unconditioned and merciful love towards those who suffer”.
The message with the title “Whoever loves God, must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4,21), affirms: “ "We still find many poor neighbours who lack the necessities of life or service, such as housing, medical care, education, food, and clothes, and those who suffer from illnesses," and expressed special concern for the North Korean brethren who "face chronic economic difficulties and also serious food shortage caused by the floods of this summer." So he called on the faithful to actively participate in the charitable work which is "the duty and at the same time the inalienable right of the Church."
Bishop You stressed, "We should let all people feel the love and mercy of God through our acts of charity or sharing of love and should invite them to salvation," and explained, "When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice."
In 2007 Caritas Korea took over from Caritas Hong Kong in the direction of humanitarian aid and cooperation for north Korea. These twelve months have produced positive results according to the in Seoul, whose work is inspired by criteria of bilateral cooperation, transparency and collaboration. The aid goes mainly to the most vulnerable people, children, mothers, elderly persons, and to support training in modern farming techniques.
Caritas Korea organises the material and project and the operative work is undertaken by its counterpart in north Korea. Caritas formed a team of experts and opened an office to oversee cooperation programmes, short, medium and long term (up to 10 years) and also to inform donors how donations, in material never in money, are distributed. The staff of both offices north and south held friendly and productive meetings often during the year to discuss and plan activity. Caritas has worked with north Korea since the mid 1990s when the regime allowed international humanitarian organisations to help the hunger stricken nation. With its Caritas offered concrete help to promote reconciliation and peaceful relations between north ad south Korea. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/12/2007 righe 32 parole 321)
