Caritas Pakistan opened in 1965 and has many years of humanitarian assistance history in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It is affiliated with

Caritas Internationalis Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Collectively and individually, their missions are to work to build a bet ...

, a Roman Catholic humanitarian organisation and one of the largest networks dedicated to reducing poverty and injustice in the world.

Asian tsunami

The organisation's work sometimes extends beyond national boundaries. On January 12, 2005, four doctors from Caritas Lahore left for Sri Lanka to assist survivors of the Asian tsunami. The doctors took medicines and US$8,448, which they handed over to Caritas Sri Lanka. The doctors planned to stay in Sri Lanka for two weeks.

2005 earthquake

In 2005 Catholic school children in Pakistan showed great solidarity with earthquake victims in

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

. In

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

pupils in

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Schools organised school bazaars to collect funds for Kashmir. They collected 3,000 bottles of mineral water which Caritas distributed to people in affected areas. Christian school pupils provided Caritas with food, medicine and also funds for schooling since most schools collapsed in the quake. Catholic school teachers have contributed to the solidarity efforts giving one day's wage to the fund for earthquake victims. Many of the volunteers involved in assisting people in areas affected by the October 8 quake are Catholics operating with Caritas and other Christian humanitarian agencies. A Caritas Pakistan team arrived the village of Balakot to assist patients at the Leprosy Centre completely destroyed in the earthquake. The team, brought food as well as medicines to patients entirely without access to nurses and doctors. Caritas provided medical assistance, calling in medical and nursing personnel from other parts of Pakistan and even from India. They put up a field hospital in North West Frontier Province and asked local people to lend a room for patient care. A Caritas team in Battagram village supplied medical equipment and medicine, walking 24 km on foot along mountain paths. Caritas personnel work with the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

which provided logistical help and transport. Caritas Pakistan continue to help earthquake-affected people by providing temporary shelters and warm clothes, but also focused their efforts on longer-term health and livelihood work, including the running of mobile health clinics, the rebuilding of three basic health units, kitchen garden training and seed and fertiliser distributions.

2010 floods

In August 2010 the heaviest rains in 80 years caused the worst flooding the country has ever seen. Caritas will provide much-needed relief to 2,500 families in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Multan dioceses as well Quetta vicariate.

Milestone

In September 2015, hundreds of Pakistani Catholics gathered for a Mass of thanksgiving in Lahore, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Caritas Pakistan. Archbishop

Joseph Coutts Joseph Coutts (born 21 July 1945) is a Pakistani prelate of the Catholic Church, who served as Archbishop of Karachi from 2012 to 2021. He served as Bishop of Faisalabad from 1998 to 2012. Pope Francis created Coutts a cardinal on 28 Jun ...

of Karachi, who is also chairman of Caritas Pakistan, was the principal celebrant. Concelebrants included Archbishop

Sebastian Francis Shaw Sebastian Francis Shaw (born 14 November 1957) is a Pakistani Roman Catholic archbishop. He was born in Padri Jo Goth, Sindh, Pakistan on 14 November 1957. He received his early education at Fatima High School and attended the Government De ...

of Lahore, Bishop

Rufin Anthony Rufin Anthony (12 February 1940 – 17 October 2016) was a Pakistani Roman Catholic bishop. Early life Anthony was born in Khushpur, Lyallpur District, British India (now in Faisalabad District, Pakistan). He completed his primary and secondar ...

of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Bishop

Joseph Arshad Joseph Arshad (born August 25, 1964) is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Biography Arshad was born on August 25, 1964, in Lahore. After completing school, he began his priestly education at St. Mary's Minor Semi ...

of Faisalabad, Bishop Benny Travas of

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the ol ...

, and a number of priests.

Other work

Caritas in Pakistan in 2007 opened the Multan Padre Pio Medical Centre to provide basic medical care to the underprivileged. The inauguration was performed by the Catholic Bishop of Multan, Bishop

Andrew Francis Andrew Michael Scott Francis is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in many television shows and films including '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' as Shining Armor, '' MegaMan NT Warrior'' as MegaMan.EXE, '' Hero 108'' as Lin Chung, '' L ...

. The centre will be open six days a week with male and female doctors on duty on alternate days. On April 22, 2016, Archbishop Joseph Coutts launched the Caritas campaign ‘Trees for the Earth’ at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Karachi. In this campaign Caritas will plant 5,000 trees in church areas and other parts of the city to protect the environment. In Karachi Caritas started the Livelihood program, an entrepreneurship project with the slogan "Empower Women, Empower Pakistan". Between November 2017 until February 2018 they trained 240 women and young girls in candle making, handicrafts, jewellery making, block printing, screen printing, foil work, cutting and stitching, dress design and fashion design.Caritas helps Pakistani women find work
UCANews website, Published 21 March 2018, Retrieved 9 May 2021

References

External links

Caritas Pakistan website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caritas Pakistan Catholic Church in Pakistan 1965 establishments in Pakistan Charities based in Pakistan

Pakistani subsidiaries of foreign companies International organisations based in Pakistan