Manzini, 11 November, 2021 / 9:05 pm (ACI Africa).
The Caritas entity of the Catholic Church is not a Non-Governmental Organization that exists as a separate entity from the Church, a Catholic Priest from Eswatini has said in his appeal to the people of God in the entire Southern African region to support activities undertaken by the charity arm of the Church.
Fr. Dumisani Vilakati, the Director of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) Secretariat, said that many people view Caritas as an NGO, a situation that he said is detrimental for some countries within the region.
In his address at a Caritas IMBISA workshop earlier this week, Fr. Vilakati said that there is need for a deeper Christian formation within the IMBISA region to enable the people of God to assume the duty of contributing spiritually and materially to the welfare of those in need.
“The danger, which Caritas may face in certain countries, is that some people simply see it as an NGO,” Fr. Vilakati said during the on Monday, November 8 session, and added, in reference to the charity arm of the Catholic Church, “It is far more than that, as it shows the love of Christ in the communities where Christians themselves live.”
The Catholic Priest expressed regret that though Caritas sometimes works as an NGO, some people have failed to distinguish the two entities and exclude themselves from charitable initiatives of the Church.
