VENEZUELA : A cry for help!

VENEZUELA

The poor, caring for the poor

House of Everyday elderly people come at the pano to get the Mercy for elderly people in Caru ese of a warm meal organised by the Dioc Carupano

In the face of this degenerating situation in the Country of Venezuela, Fr. Esteban holds on to the truth that “the Church’s mission is to comfort the people with the light of the Word of God and with prayer.”

“Many people come to the church, weeping, with their problems and concerns”, he says, “and our task is to be instruments of God in consoling and comforting these people”.

Fr. Esteban gives a vivid example: “One memorable story was that of Juan Carlos, who was travelling with his wife and son from Falcón State (in northwest Venezuela), hoping to reach another country; but by the time he got here, he had no money left to continue his journey”, Fr. Esteban explains.

“Here was a man weeping, together with his wife, because they didn’t know what to do next. The first thing I did

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A cry for help!

Faith and Church in La Guaira

was to pray with them, asking God to enlighten us; then I shared some food with them. And then, during the day, somebody else from our community offered them a place to stay for the night. So they decided to remain in the area. During the day they travel to work in Cúcuta (Colombia). Little by little they are finding a solution, with the help of God.” As part of his pastoral activities in the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Aguas Calientes, he also organises days of Eucharistic adoration and provides constant spiritual guidance for people seeking comfort and support.

“We are the poor, caring for the poor - even though we can only offer them a glass of sweetened sugarcane water”, he tells us.

“We are a source of comfort and counsel to those who live here and to those who have migrated here and

suffer. I invite all those who would like to help us to join in prayer for the people living here, because God is our only strength.”

Caring for migrants at the border, and at the same time for the people living in poverty in the frontier zone itself, means not only giving material help, despite the limitations, but above all providing pastoral and spiritual support.

Counting on your kind generosity, Archbishop Manuel Felipe Díaz Sánchez has asked Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to support not only with pastoral aid but also with food and medicines.

Priests and the faithful need to be offered opportunities where they can build up networks and encourage each other such as through the diocesan meetings, provision of Bibles and materials for catechesis and also Mass stipends which is crucial for the survival of the Priests.

Aid to the Church in Need (Malta), 39b, Mdina Road, Attard, ATD 9038 Aid to the Church in Need is a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church and registered in Malta Reg. No. LPF-212, as a Foundation regulated by the second schedule of the Civil Code Chapter (16) of the Laws of Malta.

Mgr. Mario del Valle Moronta Rodriguez Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal in Venezuela on the border to Colombia

When Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) recently visited the town of San Antonio de Tachira, in Colombia, in order to offer support in the present difficult situation of fleeing Venezuelans and show solidarity with the dioceses located on the Venezuela-Colombia border, Fr. Esteban Galvis, Parish Priest of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Ureña, Venezuela, on the border with Colombia told the delegation: “We are facing a very harsh reality, a particularly difficult situation”. “On one hand there are the would-be emigrants, passing through our Parish centres”, he explains, “and on the other the poverty of the local families living here close to the border; our own people, who continue to be affected by the critical situation in the country.”

Archbishop Manuel Felipe Díaz Sánchez of Calabozo, Venezuela also explains the situation to Aid to the Church in Need: “There is a shortage of everything. A lot of people are only living on rice and beans. The situation in the hospitals is especially critical. Medicines are in short supply. In some cases,

the patients have to procure medicine themselves and sell their last valuables in order to do so.

Mgr. Manuel Felipe Dia Many people see emigration as z Sanchez, Archbishop of the only solution.”

Calabozo Venezuela In the midst of these, the Church has been very effective in reaching out to the people but Fr. Saúl Ron Braasch of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Justice and Peace Commission laments: “The Church is helping the situation of the people but the fact is that the Church itself is not getting the help that it should be getting!”

This is why the Church relies on support from the benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need. Without your help, they wouldn’t be able to run the social projects which they have initiated to relieve shortages in food and medicines and provide the desperately needed pastoral support for the people who are literally living through a way of the cross.

Inside you will read about the true situation and how the Church is bringing solace to the people in the face of the severe and desperate situation of the Country.

If you wish to receive this leaflet by post please send us your contact details via SMS on 79999969.

Community stews in the Parishes

“We are simply watching people die”

The daily search for food has become a Via Dolorosa, says Bishop Oswaldo Azuaje of Trujillo.

“Many people arrive here (at the Parishes) weeping, with serious problems, anxious or saddened because some are leaving their country, because they have nothing to eat…” says Fr. Esteban Galvis.

“The people come to the Priest and to the Parishes”, he says, “seeking a refuge where they can find new strength and consolation” and every day, between 5,000 and 8,000 people are fed daily through the Parish centres “Community Stews” project.

In response to the food shortages, the Parishes are preparing these so-called “community stews” each day to ensure that those in need have something to eat as the malnutrition is increasing and the endemic problems are growing still worse. Furthermore, the Church is also taking care of Venezuelan refugees in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. Fr. Esteban Galvis explains: “Ever since the border was closed, we have been running social action campaigns and sharing the little food we have, but inflation is making this work impossible for us. We continue to help, but with the very barest minimum,

In Venezuela the flood of migrants seeking better prospects in other nations has continued to grow, creating an emergency in which thousands of Venezuelans are in need of help as they attempt to cross the frontier Eisham Ashiq, daughter of Asia Bibi (Simon Caldwell)

“I cannot bear to see our poorest people suffering and burying their children… I feel as though we are simply watching people die.”

These are the words of a Venezuelan Doctor to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), narrating her daily experience at being unable to save lives, owing to lack of medicines.

She describes how, during her shift at the Central Hospital, she attended a little girl suffering acute peritonitis, after having already arrived at the hospital with a ruptured appendix. As a result, they had to apply the necessary treatment to extract the festering liquid, but they had no antibiotics for her subsequent postoperative treatment.

“Her father told me, with tears in his eyes, that he could not continue buying the medication, because each treatment costs 50,000 Bolivar (€178), and she needed 3 doses a day”, the doctor explains.

At present the minimum monthly salary in Venezuela is 20,000 Bolivar (€71), so

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that the father of this little girl would have had to work and save up almost 8 months salary in order to be able to purchase a single day’s treatment with the antibiotic.

In her moving account, the doctor describes how, after cleaning up the wound, she went looking for the little girl’s father to explain to him the gravity of his daughter’s condition, and found him kneeling on the floor, weeping.

“On emerging from the operating theatre, after completing the procedure, I went looking for her father, but couldn’t find him, because he was kneeling down, weeping in a corner, with his head against the wall.”

The church in Venezuela is dealing with this situation together with the people by initiating social projects to relieve shortages in food and medicines. But the Church’s own situation can only be described as precarious – the Bishops and Priests themselves have next to nothing at the moment. They rely on support from the benefactors of Aid to the Church in Need.

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food to the needy.

Jesús Resucitado Sisters providing

and with particular emphasis on the elderly and children, since we don’t have enough for everyone.” The Parishes have indeed become a source of strength and comfort to the people and any help, however small, is a big support for the Church to sustain this aid for the people

Mgr. Oswaldo Azuaje Bishop of Trujillo in Venezuela

of Venezuela.

“Thanks to all of you, our Parishes will be able to continue to offer consolation and shed light into the darkness that casts such a pall over Venezuela”, says Bishop Oswaldo Azuaje of Trujillo, Venezuela.

Offer a Mass for Venezuela The Venezuelan Church is one that suffers along with its people. Priests and Religious are doing everything possible to support, accompany and comfort their people. But who takes care of them so that they themselves do not collapse emotionally or spiritually?

The Priests in the urban peripheries hardly have any income to support themselves or cover transport costs. The situation worsens in case of illness. Medicines are expensive and many chronic diseases can become deadly. Archbishop Manuel Felipe Díaz Sánchez of the Diocese of Calabozo in Venezuela revealed to us the unfortunate situation where “in some cases, some Priests and Religious have even had to leave the country because they were no longer able to financially support their monasteries or convents and pastoral work.” “Provisions for the Priests are much needed”, he appeals, “Mass stipends are

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the only source to secure the livelihood of Priests who are performing pastoral work”.

Bishop Oswaldo Azuaje of Trujillo adds that “Mass stipends allow them to secure their livelihood in a manner that is worthy of human beings. Moreover, this aid keeps us connected through prayer, and ensures that we do not lose hope.” “It is our responsibility to help the people by supporting the Priests.

Please continue to help us so that we in turn can ensure that our Priests have a worthy means of subsistence, and thus be able to continue offering the community, pastoral support, stews as well as medicines and other forms of aid”, he said. When you make a Mass Offering through Aid to the Church in Need, you are supporting a Priest in need in one of more than 140 countries in which we work, while at the same time, a Mass is being celebrated for your special intentions.

In this case, we want to support the Priests in Venezuela. At the same time, we also

encourage Catholics around the world to pray at Mass for “the peace and the future of Venezuela.” A Mass has infinite value. Prayer is the basis of change!

You may wish to offer a generous donation by calling 21487818 or online by visiting www.acnmalta.org/donate or through APS account No. 20001771733.

www.acnmalta.org/venezuela