Caritas India, the social development arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has marked an iconic milestone with its Diamond Jubilee on the 1st of October 2022. On Monday, the foundation day of the organisation was celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm.

In his opening words,  Fr. (Dr.) Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India expressed that Caritas India in her journey of serving the poor has traversed through pragmatic and paradigm changes over the years, from being a charitable organization promoting inclusive and equitable development.

“Our organization began with humble beginnings 60 years ago and has grown into a large family that believes in one motto- The joy of service. In the 60-year-long journey in the development sector, Caritas India consistently and significantly contributed to the sectors of humanitarian aid and disaster risk reduction, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture, health, education, anti-human trafficking, good governance, sustainable livelihoods, Peace and Social Harmony, urban poverty alleviation. While these accomplishments of Caritas India helped millions of poor to live a life with greater dignity, these also helped her become a respected development agency both nationally and internationally.”

He also reiterated that “Caritas India’s commitment to integrated human development and her constant striving to be relevant to the needs and aspirations of the poor and the marginalized have greatly amplified our efforts in gathering a wealth of experience and expertise from the local communities in different sectors like community mobilization, risk reduction, climate adaptive practices, Preventive Health measures and Peacebuilding.”

The Jubilee celebration began with a solemn Eucharistic Mass celebrated by Archbishop Sebastian Kallupura, Chairman of Caritas India along with Fr. Varghese Vinayanand, Vicar General of Gurgaon Diocese, Fr. Jervis D’Souza, Deputy Secretary General, CBCI, Fr. (Dr.) Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director, Fr. Sushil Modi, Administrator, Caritas India and other priests from CBCI and the Archdiocese of Delhi.

After the Eucharist, His grace released the 60 years logo of Caritas India specially designed with the theme “Compassion in Action” which symbolises the organisation’s compassionate service to the most vulnerable.

“Today is a historical day for Caritas India, today we are 60 years young, it is a day of celebration and thanksgiving, today we look back with deep sentiments of gratitude for the past 60 years of Caritas India’s yeomen services in the nation-building processes, “said Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, the Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India during the inaugural. He expressed that Caritas India’s future would be based towards contextualising and reimaging the Church’s social mission, the Diakonia Ministry. He also thanked the Church leadership, Caritas India’s past leaderships, Regional and Diocesan partners, Donors, other like-minded organisations and staff associated with her.

He shared a host of programmes planned to commemorate the diamond jubilee celebrations during the year including, diamond jubilee celebrations with the local communities through all cluster programmes, organising national level peace conference involving leaders from the different faith groups, National level conferences on DRR and Food Security, National Assembly of the Diocesan Directors of social work, building a network of religious congregations involved in the social ministry of Church in India in tandem with CRI units, building a network of national level Christian NGOs operational under the banner of Christian Agency Network, formation of the network of church organisations in India working with the transgender community and organising a capacity building training for the entire staff of Caritas India.

His grace, Archbishop Sebastian in his message said, Caritas India in the past 60 years’ journey had served different people and reached out to the poor. Now, after 60 years, Caritas India will reflect and evaluate its operations to reach out to different people in different ways to serve the poorest of the poor.

“In 60 years of service, Caritas India has shown the world that it stands for ethics,” said Fr. Varghese Vinayanand, Vicar General of Gurgaon diocese in his message. He quoted St. Thomas Aquinas where he says, “Happiness is there in the honour,” He further said that the real honour of Caritas India doesn’t come from outside, but sprouts from within which stays in the motto, “The joy of service”.

Sharing her thoughts, Sr. Shelly Ruth, the Programme Coordinator of the Migration programme from Prachodana outlined the various programs that Caritas India has undertaken with special mention of Pravasi Bandhu. She also spoke about how its various partners have collaborated and created an impact on society.

Using the metaphor of a Diamond, the Deputy Secretary General, Fr. Jervis D’Souza said the diamond’s true value comes from its cut, clarity, colour and carat, so as people who are working for Caritas need to integrate this aspect in our life and work to be valuable.

Caritas India also announced its plans to initiate a few major programmes in the coming year to celebrate its diamond jubilee which includes starting a new child rights programme in multiple states of India, the initiative of a new campaign in Kerala as a Church response towards drug addiction and progressively spreading to other states, formulation of state-level policies for the regional fora and diocesan social service societies as part of institutional safeguarding mechanism and initiating a new programme on promotion of integral ecology, and many other programmes.

Post-celebration, Caritas Staff and Samaritans organised ‘Anand Bhoj’ a food distribution drive for the homeless and needy people in Delhi. Around 200 food packets were distributed as part of its Diamond Jubilee celebration during that day. In addition, 1200 needy people will be supported with food during October 2022.