New Delhi (Fides Service) - Caritas India has just marked 40 years since its foundation. "We have worked Caritas India and its partners have worked indefatigably to ensure better living conditions for the poor and making them dynamic and animated" said Fr. Yvon Ambroise, Caritas Asia Co-ordinator, on the occasion of the 40 year celebration of Caritas India, September 3. SAR News reports. He further said "Social work is not an appendix of the Church, it is rather the blood system." Every social worker needs to analyse this further in order to identify the root causes and counter the negative processes, to bring about substantial changes that benefit the poor, he added.
For the occasion a workshop was held on the theme, "The Church in partnership with the poor in Nation-building." Fr. Gregory D'Souza, Joint Assistant Executive Director, Caritas India, who opened the work-shop presented an overview of activities of the organisation, locally as well as nationally. In the northern region, Caritas India has supported 871 developmental projects worth over Rs. 21 million (US$ 433,000) in the last decade alone. (Fides Service 18/9/2002)