The SVD AUS Province is supporting national efforts to raise funds for bushfire relief, with parishes, lay partners and confreres all contributing to the cause.
Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, says the parishes in the Province were supporting the St Vincent de Paul Bushfire Relief Appeal through the Australia Day parish collection, as requested by Australia’s bishops and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA), and the Province was also considering any other ways it might be able to help people get back on their feet.
“We want to help in whatever way we can,” he says.
“Our parishes took part in the Australia Day Vinnies collection,” he says. “And our confreres were also encouraged to give to the Appeal from their allowances.
“CRA has asked religious congregations to consider whether they have any emergency accommodation available or other practical means of supporting bushfire victims in their recovery and we are looking at that at the moment.”
The SVD Lay Partners will hold a sausage sizzle this Sunday, February2, after Mass at the St Arnold Janssen Chapel to raise funds for the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal.
Fr Rass says none of the SVD-administered parishes were directly affected by the bushfires, but were part of wider communities which were hard-hit, such as the Wollongong Diocese, in which communities on the NSW South Coast were badly affected.
“I think the whole country, and even people across the world, have been shocked by the size and severity of these fires and the massive outpouring of fundraising and assistance is testament to that,” he says.
“When disasters like this happen, communities pull together in amazing ways. We give our thanks for and pay tribute to the volunteers who fought, and are continuing to fight, these fires. And we remember in prayer especially those who lost their lives, and their families and communities.”
The St Vincent de Paul Society has assured the community that every dollar raised for the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal will be used to support the people impacted by the fires.
During the bushfire crisis, Vinnies volunteers are on the ground in hundreds of communities across the country, helping people as they deal with the immediate aftermath of fires.
“Our volunteers live and work in the impacted communities and will stay alongside those people affected for the long months of recovery ahead,” they said in a statement.
“Vinnies has from day one been in communities providing assistance from our own funds and over the past three weeks has been actively distributing assistance from the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal. This includes financial packages; essential items such as food, water, clothing and bedding; and emotional support for those affected by the bushfires.”
Meanwhile, Catholic Religious Australia, of which the SVD is a member, announced this week it is part of a new whole-of-Church initiative to help people and communities recover from the current bushfire crisis which will set the blueprint for how the Catholic Church responds to domestic natural disasters in the future.
The new national collaboration is called CERA – Catholic Emergency Relief Australia – and will serve as a coordination point for Catholic agencies responding to natural disasters.
The founding organisations are the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Catholic Religious Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia and the National Catholic Education Commission. Other Catholic organisations are expected to join the collaboration soon.