Archbishop of Sydney

National Day Of Mourning

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
16 January 2005

The Prime Minister has decided that today should be a national day of mourning.  This is a good thing because the tsunami provoked a multi-nation disaster more destructive than any natural calamity in hundreds of years.

Naturally there have been some modern twists to this disaster.  Even 150 years ago news would have travelled much more slowly.  500 years ago most of the world would have remained in ignorance for decades.

Modern communications, technology and medicine also enable us to do more for the survivors than was imaginable in the past.  And an effective tsunami warning system, as exists in Japan and the Pacific, would have saved many lives.

The Prime Minister reminded us that charity begins at home and showed that it should not remain there.  The disaster was close to home, causing havoc among our neighbours, among nations who have many immigrant people living or studying happily among us.  We had to help.

The tsunami could be an important milestone when most Australians acknowledged that Australia is geographically part of Asia, with our own European way of living and thinking, but a good and helpful neighbour.  In fifty or 100 years time it will probably still be easier to fly to London than to Jakarta, but the futures of all countries in the region are linked inextricably.

The Federal Government’s leadership and contribution have been outstanding and the aid agencies and their donors have tapped into the generosity and compassion of Australians.

For those of us who love cricket it was heart-warming to see the world’s best cricketers in the Melbourne one-day match providing solid entertainment to a sell-out crowd and raising $14,000,000.

By last Wednesday Australian aid agencies had collected $175,500,000 and the Christian faith – based agencies had gathered $72,000,000 of that.  World Vision’s share of this was a magnificent $66,000,000, while the Catholic agency Caritas contributed more than $6,000,000 from Catholic parishes in every part of Australia.

Caritas has already disbursed more than $1,000,000 to Indonesia, where they have been working for three years with Jesuit Refugee Service to help displaced persons, to Sri Lanka and to Tamil Nadu in India.

Caritas Australia is a member of Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic aid and development network with 162 member nations in 201 countries.  By their charter they are prohibited from proselytizing, from trying aid to religion.  Officially and actually it is aid with no strings attached.

As Caritas has local networks in most countries they have been able to start work already e.g. in Indonesia by feeding 5,000 people daily in Banda Aceh and distributing food to 120,000 in regional camps.

The next stage will be the construction of basic housing with water and sanitation systems and then the restoration of local economies, by e.g. fishing boats, nets.

The appeal line for Caritas Australia is 1800 024 413 or www.caritas.org.au