By James Parker
“Our story is your story.” This was the theme of Caritas’s 50th anniversary celebration which took place recently in the Archdiocese of Perth.
Caritas’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul O’Callaghan, joined past and present facilitators, staff and volunteers from across Western Australia for a celebration of thanksgiving for “the great achievements made with so little by people over the past fifty years”.
O’Callaghan, who previously held senior leadership roles in the Department of Foreign Affairs, expressed his gratitude for how Western Australians have played their part in serving what began as the Catholic Agency for Aid and Development in 1964.
“We are a movement rather than an organisation,” said O’Callaghan, who threaded the themes of love and compassion, the two central qualities to Caritas’s work, into his keynote address.
He shared how Caritas sought to be “different to the NGOS in our approach”.
“It is easy,” he said, “for people with roots from Europe and North America to enter some of the poorest areas of the world with imperialist attitudes. We reject the colonial way of engaging with communities abroad which has generally involved talking a lot rather than arriving ready to listen, and then to act.”
O’Callaghan publicly thanked a number of key individuals who, over the decades, have faithfully served under the umbrella of Caritas in different roles. He made particular mention of Margaret Collopy for her dedication as Perth’s Archdiocesan Director and also as a Caritas National Council member. He also thanked Dr Judith Woodward, Sr Anne Kavanagh rsj, Ann Fairhead and Monica Mulcahy.
He ended by expressing particular thanks to the priests of Western Australia “for being such key partners in Project Compassion and for allowing us to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity”.
Monica Mulcahy, Caritas’ longest serving committee member, responded to Paul O’Callaghan’s words stating that “Caritas is a Catholic good news story. It offers a lot of bang for the bucks due to its low overheads, resonating with the grass roots of the Catholic Church in the way it joins in with other religions and faiths and those with a passion for social justice”.