Bangkok (Fides Service) - New Caritas offices opened recently in certain Asian countries need not only financial backing, but also the support and encouragement of aid agencies with years of experience. This emerged from a meeting organised in Bangkok, Thailand, in early February by Caritas Asia which co-ordinates the activity of Caritas national offices in this region. The Bangkok meeting was attended by Caritas delegates from countries where Caritas offices were opened recently or will be opened soon: East Timor, Kazakistan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Uzbekistan and delegates from Germany, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain and the United States where Caritas offices are longstanding.
The representatives of the new Caritas offices reminded those present that many people in their countries are very poor and are therefore unable to make contributions to the work of Caritas. What is more, many local Churches still rely on outside funds. President of Caritas Asia, Bishop Joseph Vianney Fernando of Kandy diocese in Sri Lanka, underlined the necessity for ongoing solidarity on the part of Asian countries who are not so poor.
The delegates of countries where Caritas offices have operated for some years said they are willing to help the new agencies to grow from a "donor-benefactor" relation to "effective responsible solidarity on the part of each Office".
Caritas Internationalis, based in Rome, which co-ordinates the activity of a federation of Caritas 154 offices all over the world, says it is presently working in 198 different countries or areas to bring help to the needy. MS (Fides Service 18/2/2003 EM lines 21 Words: 265)