Caritas India partners of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa converged in Mumbai for the regional assembly on 4 March 2022 to celebrate the solidarity and partnership and to identify avenues for joint action. The regional assembly of diocesan directors of social apostolate was attended by 27 directors of diocesan social service societies and faith-based organisations.

The day-long regional assembly witnessed intensive discussions on the development contexts in the country, challenges and the solutions that the partners can individually and collectively implement. A consensus emerged during the assembly on increasing the regional level interactions and exchanges so that the local Church can express through her work the compassionate face of the Church more efficiently and convincingly. “The loving and caring nature of the Church needs to be demonstrated despite all challenges and hostilities. Social work institutions should continue to bear witness and express Christian love and thus play the humanising role”, Bishop CC Jose of Rajkot who is also the chairman of Western Region Social Service Forum said in his keynote address. He called for greater coordination and partnership with other stakeholders and said that Church-based organisations should work more vigorously for involving everyone as “partners in our mission”.

Bishop CC Jose appreciated Caritas India for infusing professionalism in the development practice of partners and said that several measures were introduced in the past for helping partners become more professional and impactful. “Caritas India had contributed significantly to the professionalisation of diocesan social service societies and making them relevant to the social contexts. These initiatives should not only be sustained but should be intensified as well”, Bishop CC Jose said. He exhorted the diocesan social service societies to work more intensively for empowering communities because empowerment helps communities accomplish greater development objectives. “For helping communities empower themselves, Church-based organisations should empower themselves first in terms of systems, processes, resources and capacities”, Bishop CC Jose added.

Earlier, Fr. (Dr.) Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India congratulated the diocesan directors of social apostolate for demonstrating their solidarity and expressing enthusiasm to stay united. While terming the regional assembly as the demonstration of the commitment of partners “to journey together in fraternity”, Fr. Paul said that the strength of diocesan social service societies in the region has been the “connectedness” that always existed at the regional level. While shedding light on the operational challenges of the present times Fr. Paul said that Church-based organisations need to find their relevance in a challenging context involving 3Cs – Covid, Conflict and Climate. “While covid pandemic has left a turmoil trail, conflicts of the various kind have slowed down the development advances. Climate change has further aggravated vulnerabilities of millions of people and pushed them to precarious conditions”, Fr. Paul said.  For identifying a solution to the numerous challenges posed before communities and Church-based organisations that work for helping communities, Fr. Paul suggested the adoption of a 3S strategy.

“The 3S strategy involves Solidarity, Social friendship and Social Justice. Synergy increases the strength and effectiveness of organisations. Therefore, partner organisations should ensure that solidarity at all levels is created and sustained. Development work, as well as development partnership, should be conducted in an environment of social friendship and this social friendship should be directed towards achieving social justice, especially for the downtrodden communities”, Fr. Paul added. While referring to the exhortation of Pope Francis, Fr. Paul said that the synodal approach to welfare action involving Communion, Participation and Mission should be adopted for expressing the love of Jesus.

The diocesan directors of social apostolate had held several rounds of discussions and reflections on the possibilities of working together and establishing exchanges among them. The diocesan directors also spoke on the challenges and the measures that they have employed for addressing these challenges, especially the resource crunch which has gripped the development sector.

Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, spoke at length on the three-fold mission of Church viz. Kerygma, Leitourgia and Diakonia. He spoke on the proclamation of the Gospel, Evangelization of the world and socially transformative actions that should go together through church’s mission for the redemption of human race. “The larger goal and mission of the Church’s social sector engagement is evangelization as the mission of the Church by bringing the good news to the life of the poor through promotion of justice”, Fr. Jolly said. Dioceses have the pastoral duty to promote the social service ministry as part of its evangelization efforts. It is also about catholic faith-driven and value-based organization and continuing the mission of Jesus through the channels of the church’s evangelization efforts, Fr. Jolly added.

Fr. Jolly further said that the role of diocesan social service societies is not just implementing projects but animating the whole diocese and getting others involved in this social apostolate mission.  He also presented 12 paradigms for creating impact making diocesan social service societies. “It is necessary to recognize the individual worth of everyone and to create space for each one of them whether poor, staff and other programme beneficiaries. We must walk with people for creating a new world of inclusive thinking, equal opportunities, and equitable justice”, Fr. Jolly added.

Fr. Kiran Olakkengil, forum director of Madhya Pradesh, also addressed the assembly and said that all partners should make more efforts so that collectively everyone achieves more. “Church-based organisations are excellent in doing things individually but do not achieve in the same measure while working collectively. Hence, every organisation should have a strategy to work with the other”, Fr. Kiran added.

Earlier, the regional assembly started with the Holy Mass celebrated by bishop CC Jose. The partners during the assembly voiced the demand that such regional assemblies should be held more frequently for cementing regional partnerships and solidarity.

The partners also unanimously decided to initiate and intensify campaigns in their respective intervention areas against the spectre of cancer which is becoming menacing. The diocesan social service societies decided to adopt a comprehensive strategy of prevention and care and implement this strategy in communities. They also decided to start self-funded diocese-level campaigns for cancer prevention and care.

The one-day regional assembly concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr Melvin Pangya, Caritas India state officer for Maharashtra.