Sumatra Aid Efforts

Collecting goods for Sumatran earthquake victims.
Collecting goods for Sumatran earthquake victims. (photo: UCAN)

This Union of Catholic Asian News article details efforts undertaken by some young Indonesian Catholics to send aid to survivors of the earthquake that devastated the island of Sumatra Sept. 30.

Their efforts are mostly small-scale, but this only serves to highlight that even small shipments of aid are desperately needed there. And to remind Catholics who are lucky enough to live in more economically privileged countries that they too should be ready to help out victims of natural disasters.

Catholic Americans who want to make donations to disaster relief efforts in Sumatra, and to other countries such as the Philippines that have been struck recently by natural calamities, can go here to make contributions through the website of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas aid agency of the U.S. bishops

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis