At the end of November, Pope Benedict XVI addressed a Vatican meeting with 85 Catholic international NGOs and expressed support for their work as well as for the importance of the UN system, though he did warn against “moral relativism”.
“A growing tendency within the international organisations is to dislike and discard in principle all semblance of a religious connotation,” said Archbishop Migliore on the challenges faced by Catholic NGOs at the UN. “The intolerance does not reside only in certain fundamentalist religious people, but also in those who – not being believers – do not permit society to be a believer.”
Governments and international institutions have in the past not recognised the vital role that faith-based organisations have to play in delivering humanitarian assistance and promoting human development, says Caritas. For instance, in many African countries the Catholic Church is the primary, if not the sole, healthcare and education provider. International donors have not taken advantage of this valuable resource as a way to deliver aid, with only a fraction of funding going though faith-based organisations.
“We advocate first and foremost not on the basis of our beliefs,” says Dr Ezio Castelli of the Association of Volunteers in International Service USA (AVSI-USA), a development agency with a basis in Catholic social teaching. “We are not advocating for a space to build a ”˜Catholic’ school or hospital, but for governments to recognise the common good of these institutions.”
“A growing tendency within the international organisations is to dislike and discard in principle all semblance of a religious connotation,”
You had better believe that oil-rich Islamic states are literally buying converts with their direct aid and cash in developing counties. Some of these are then radicalized and used as human weapons.
God bless the Christian NGO’s for bringing the love and help of Christ to those in the direst conditions.