Catholic Social Services Annual Appeal is running from 1 – 30 November 2024. Archbishop Paul Martin SM shares a video message about the work of Catholic Social Services and invites people to help through donations, volunteering or prayer. Learn more: catholicsocialservices.org.nz.
“Hello everybody. November is Catholic Social Services Appeal month and so I’m asking you as members of our community if you’re able, to donate this month to support the work of Catholic Social Services in our Archdiocese so that we can continue to fill the mission of bringing hope into our community. Pope Francis, in preparing us for the Year of Jubilee has given us a year of Hope as his call to us, and our work through our social agency through Catholic Social Services is a practical expression of that hope, especially hope for those who might be experience hardships or who need support. Pope Francis talks about supporting parents and migrants and refugees, young people, the sick at home and in hospitals, those who might be experiencing material hardship or experiencing loneliness. And our call as Christians and as a Catholic community is to provide hope and support to those communities through practical assistance and sharing our resources where they’re needed our Catholic Social Services Agency has been working since the 1960s helping in all sorts of different ways people over the changing needs of the times and at the moment we have a particular focus on parenting courses helping parents working with refugees to be settled back into the community supporting children through their great and grief circumstances through our hospital and prison chaplaincy work and also social work support. We provide assistance also with housing and benefit entitlements through helping people who need help working their way through that and also providing support for our parish and school communities and working with them to help them encounter and meet and work with people who may be in need in their communities there are three ways that you can help support the work of our Social Services Agency; firstly through donating funds that go directly towards uh providing the services for our community; secondly by volunteering your time to contribute to the work; and thirdly by praying for individuals and families in our community who are going through hard times and hardships and who are looking for signs of Hope at this time in their lives, and also praying that the work of Catholic Social Services will provide an anchor of stability and security for people amidst the anxiety and uncertainty in our communities. Our outreach and history through a Catholic Social Services agency has been a very practical expression of our faith and I hope that you will find in your hearts to be able to contribute to this in this month of November. God bless, thank you.”