Collaboration in Works of Charity

Written by Francis Lai

Collaboration is a sensible and logical way forward for the faithful to practise as they serve the Catholic Church in performing various works of a spiritual and of mercy in nature. As Jesus too had appointed 12 apostles whom he empowered and send them out to bring His message of God’s love, mercy and compassion to the peoples of His time (Mark 3:13-19), collaboration has been the hallmark of our church’s various works of evangelization and mercy up to this day. 

At the peak of the Covid 19 pandemic lock down, we were called to think about ‘what more can the church do to help the poor and needy’, especially the new urban poor who had lost jobs and income. This call brought together the collaboration of Care for Creation Ministry (C4C) through its major projects programme, and SSVP who were already helping the Friends in Need (FINs), to expand help by giving food packs, medical aid and even rental subsidy to those affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic, including those who have reached out for help by flying white flags.  

Collaborative action brought forth donors of both cash and kind, from the parishioners of our BECs and parish ministries as well as individuals and organizations of goodwill from within and outside of the church too. A number of these collaborators from the BECs and parishioners went on to volunteer on a regular basis, their time and talent to help receive and pack the food donations on specific days. Further help was rendered to distribute food packs to recipients all over PJ, including FINS, new urban poor, and those who had called out for assistance.

Works of due diligence to avoid duplication of giving such aid was also well coordinated through information sharing within the KL Archdiocese Office of Human Development chat group which allowed cross checking to avoid duplication of aid rendered.    

Collaboration has another advantage as the initial move in volunteering can bring someone to become new members of ministries. It is also a reservoir to find new talents that benefit such projects, and these do develop into partnership programmes, especially in areas of helping the poor to pursue tertiary education and treat and cure serious medical conditions. Another example of concrete partnership is that to seek to empower the Orang Asli community by providing solar lighting, improved housing and community farming for self-sufficiency and also to earn additional income by selling to the local food market.   

Our own Jesuit parish has also implemented the Jesuit’s Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAP) and here we see a deliberate collaborative approach where every BEC and parish ministry appoint coordinators for each of the 4 Pillars: Ignatian Spirituality, Walking with the Excluded, Journeying with the Youth, and Care for Creation. This will elevate coordinators to the parish level projects and in turn help coordinate implementation at their own BEC and parish ministries. This will encourage all within the parish to cross serve beyond the traditional silo approach that many are still accustomed to.  

Indeed, collaboration enables us to work, cooperate, share and pool talents as well as resources together. It opens up communication where BECs and parish ministries could hear each other out, whether within each group, or intra-groups or even beyond to client groups so that optimal decisions could be reached in line with our church’s teachings and Synodal approach.