Religion and Life Assignment
Jessica Le
Introduction: How Catholic Agencies Demonstrate a Concern for Justice
Many Catholic agencies around the world demonstrate their concern for justice in a society by
providing support and basic necessities to those who are unable to survive on their own, as well as
those who are underprivileged. These agencies also strive to raise awareness within the community
about the poverty and injustices that are happening around them, and also encourages people to
support their cause, and to change their attitudes towards social injustice issues so that they can
work together in order to provide a better future for those who need it. Catholic beliefs and values
create the foundations on which the Catholic agencies base their actions and their fight for social
justice. What they do within society and the community reflects the teachings of Jesus as well as the
Catholic Church.
Caritas: What they do
Caritas is a worldwide organisation which is effective in responding to global disasters as they
happen around the world. Caritas has provided aid and support to disasters such as the South Asia
Floods, Haiti Emergency response, and the Sri Lanka Humanitarian Crisis, and most recently the
major flooding in Pakistan. The help that Caritas has provided to the people affected by the floods
has made a very big difference to the international rescue effort to save the country. They are
responding first to provide the people with basic needs such as food, water and shelter by delivering
hygiene and shelter kits to people who have been severely affected by the disaster.
How Caritas Is Creating a Sustainable Future For the People in Pakistan
Although currently they are attending to the immediate needs of the victims on a short-term basis,
Caritas will also provide long-term solutions which will help the country to fully recover from the
floods. Some long-term solutions that Caritas has put into practice include educating people on
hygienic living as well as repairing the community infrastructure and providing trauma counselling
for those struggling to cope with the situation. Caritas aims to provide Pakistan with the knowledge
and proper education, so that they are able to restore everything that was damaged by the floods.
They are also educating people on how to prevent, or at least reduce the impact if another flood
were to happen. By providing the people of Pakistan with the resources and education that they
require, Caritas is helping to create a more sustainable future for their country and also making the
country more self-independent.
Social Justice in Action
The work that Caritas does presents the idea of social justice in action through the development
programs that they run and the support that they provide to the needy. Caritas aims to eradicate
poverty in the world and to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor by encourages those in
richer countries to donate to help those in the poorer countries who have been severely affected by
disasters. Caritas also raises awareness of social injustices happening within the community by
providing education programs to teach students what they can do to change the livelihood of those
affected by poverty, as well as ways that they can prevent themselves from falling into the cycle of
poverty. These programs help to encourage the next generation to
Catholic Teachings
Caritas is a Catholic agency, which means that what they do in the community reflects the teachings
and values of the Catholic religion. Jesus taught everyone that they should love one another and
Caritas puts this teaching into action through their fight to help all those in need. Caritas strongly
believes in the human rights and dignity and that everyone should have equal rights and that
everyone should at least have access to the basic needs for survival. They aim to work towards
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Religion and Life Assignment
Jessica Le
creating the world that God had originally intended for mankind. The whole organisation is based on
the one quote from the bible listed below:
"Jesus stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
(Luke 4: 16-19, 21)
This is the vision that Caritas has for the future and they hope to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and strive
towards creating a future where poverty is a thing of the past. Religion, beliefs and values thus play a
very important role in what Caritas does as an agency.
Caritas Australia: The Human Need to Survive (Poverty)
Caritas Australia is one of the world’s largest disaster response organisations found in the world. It
aims to provide people who have been affected by disasters with immediate help and basic
necessities. Caritas addresses the human need of poverty, such as helping those who are
underprivileged and those who have lost their livelihood because of a disaster that has happened in
their country. They work for social justice by fighting against poverty which is clearly evident in their
‘Stand Up For Poverty’ campaign which they are currently running as well as other programs such as
Project Compassion and the Be More Challenge. Caritas helps people to break out of the cycle of
poverty so that they get to a point where they no longer need to depend on the help of Caritas and
are able to live a sustainable future by themselves. The main issue related to poverty that Caritas
strives to overcome are illiteracy, environmental damage, conserving cultural identity as well as
providing an education for better agriculture practices and improving health.
Conclusion
All Catholics agencies work together with the people all over the world to address social injustices
and to fix these issues to the best of their abilities. These Catholic agencies follow the teachings of
the Catholic religion and base much of their work around what Jesus and God has taught humanity.
Caritas is an example of one of these Catholic agencies which fights against poverty and for the
human right to basic needs in the situation of a disaster. Caritas also raises awareness to everyone
around the world about the devastating effects of poverty and what they can do in order to provide
a better future for those struggling to survive.
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