The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Social Communication will meet in Manila on April 10 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) as part of a three-day celebration of the 50th anniversary of Radio Veritas Asia and of Radio Veritas 846, the first Catholic radio station in Asia.
A Thanksgiving Mass will be held presided by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, with Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle as homilist.
The event marks the conception of Radio Veritas Asia at the UST Central Seminary during an assembly of 100 bishops from Asia and Australia way back in 1958. Eleven years later, on April 11, 1969, the Radio Veritas facility in Fairview, Quezon City was inaugurated by Antonio Cardinal Samore from the Vatican and Manila Archbishop Rufino Cardinal Santos.
On April 11, at the Radio Veritas compound in Quezon City, the 50th anniversary commemorative marker will be unveiled. To be inaugurated is the Radio Veritas Asia Museum.
Fifty benefactors and support of Radio Veritas Asia and Radio Veritas 846 will be awarded.
A Mass will also be presided by Archbishop of Freiburg Stephan Burger and FABC chair, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar.
On April 21, Easter Sunday, Cardinal Tagle will hold a Mass followed by a thanksgiving fellowship of Radio Veritas Asia and Radio Veritas 846 anchors and loyal Kapanalig listeners and benefactors.
Fr. Anton CT Pascual, Radio Veritas president, and Fr. Victor F. Sadaya, general manager of Radio Veritas Asia, thanked all benefactors, supporters and listeners and said the anniversary should afford the stations a chance to reaffirm “our continued dedication to stand for the truth much.”
The celebration is supported by Rustan’s, Philippine National Bank, Columbian International Foods, Inc., and Journeys of Faith, Inc.
Caritas Manila
For 2018, Caritas Manila (CM), the social services arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, funded various development efforts nationwide with over P220 million in funds.
Some P99 million went to the education of 3,363 scholars under the Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (Yslep). Last year, Yslep graduated its highest number of scholars at 1,541 students with 306 graduating with honors. This batch also included 485 students who are survivors of typhoon Yolanda that devastated the country in 2013.
Segunda Mana received P128 million worth of donations in kind which are then sold to the public. This generated gross revenue of P62.5 million.
Caritas Margins Church Social Enterprise markets quality products of micro-entrepreneurs. In 2018, it raised P28 million with P13 million gross profit generated for 68 partner NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and 1,154 partner families
Caritas Damayan Disaster Management Program helped 17,933 families affected by fire, flooding, typhoon and volcanic eruptions.
The Good Samaritan Program served over 6,000 people in crises through medical, hospital and other forms of assistance.
CM’s Preventive Health Programhelped 41,487 patients while 1,532 children were nourished back to health under the Caritas Hapag-Asa Feeding Program
Caritas Restorative Justice Program livelihood and skills training, medical and dental services, educational, religious and social action aids.
Caritas helps those involved in illegal drugs through Sanlakbay Pastoral Accompaniment Program for Drug Dependents.
Visit CM at 2002 Jesus Street, Pandacan, Manila or call 5620020 to 25 or the Donor Care hotlines at 5639311, 5640205, 0905-4285001 or 0929-8343857, e-mail caritas_manila@yahoo.com or log on to https://caritasmanila.org.
For announcements, e-mail lzulueta@inquirer.com.ph.