SVD Humanitarian Works
As
missionaries, as priests and consecrated persons, as ecclesiastical persons,
our primary task is evangelization, that is the proclamation of the good news
of salvation to all peoples. However, evangelization calls for a dynamic and
proactive engagement making us missionaries, priests, consecrated persons, and
ecclesial individuals not merely observers of daily human affairs but active
shapers and movers of social events. Our work of evangelization must result not
only in spiritual moral upliftment but to the integral development of the human
person. The hungry, the uneducated, the unemployed, the homeless, and the
disabled must not be made dependents of our generosity but develop
independence, confidence and productivity in the course of our charity. Let the
goal of our evangelization the productive development of potentials of the
human person.
I wrote this paragraph several weeks ago, when I was contemplating on a paper about the CSR audit of our SVD run "businesses". Back then, I thought why are we doing all these "apostolate", these charitable works and what do we intent to achieve by doing so.
I wrote this paragraph several weeks ago, when I was contemplating on a paper about the CSR audit of our SVD run "businesses". Back then, I thought why are we doing all these "apostolate", these charitable works and what do we intent to achieve by doing so.
The SVD Philippines is composed of three separate provinces, where SVD missionary priest and brothers are engaged in various ministries and apostolic engagement in the field of education, mass media, urban poor, indigenous peoples, environment, human rights, parish work, and other works of evangelization. In Metro Manila in nearby provinces, the SVD missionaries working in different fields belong to the central province. Our presence in Metro Manila is limited to the Chinese-Filipino through Saint Jude Catholic schools, the urban poor of of Tondo through our parish in the Smokey Mountain, the formation of candidates and to several other parish administrations.
What is distinctly interesting among our humanitarian works is the SVD Kalinga Center in Tayuman that provides basic necessity services to those in need such as "kain, ligo ng ayos". This service of the SVD has been attracting a lot of media attention recently. The following are what google search engine will list after typing in "SVD Kalinga":
As a business student, my concern for writing on this is how to expand and sustain the service and what is the role of the private/business sector in this noble endeavor.
The Philippines is where the biggest catholic population in Asia is found counting around 70 to 60 million. Yet, the Philippines is the same country where abject poverty is a home. That is why the SVD Kalinga Center is a relevant initiative that must be expanded and multiplies if not for the whole country at least in Metro Manila to lessen the level of inequality between rich and poor that is a scandal for a predominantly catholic country.
These are the things that needs to be done to address issues of expansion and sustainability:
1. Expand stakeholders by partnering with the private/business sector, church organizations, and coordinate with existing government agencies with the same available services
2. Widen the scope of beneficiaries by raising awareness of the need and concern within the ecclesiastical structure.
3. Re-structure and improve the kind of services offered by giving skills and livelihood training and personality development session.
4. Harness the latent power of the poor themselves by challenging them to be involved and to give back--"No one is so poor that he cannot give..."
Christ worked with the Apostles, the Church then need to work with others to make an impact on the lives of others. Business management is very clear in saying, "delegate responsibilities".
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