Project Compassion 2013 was officially launched on February 14 at St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School in Parmelia.
Parishioners joined several local priests, as well as local politicians and the mayor of Kwinana, Carol Adams, at the launch.
Provaty Rozario, co-ordinator of the Safe Motherhood Project (SMP) in Bangladesh which Caritas Australia supports, explained to the crowd the social, cultural and economic situation in Bangladesh.
Mrs Rozario also related several success stories from the SMP and acknowledged the improvement in its services since Caritas established a direct partnership with the program in 2007. The SMP trains rural and village midwives in Bangladesh and provides antenatal and postnatal care for mothers.
“Working together, we can make a difference in the lives of women in Bangladesh and we can open the doors into the future for babies who might otherwise have died at birth,” Mrs Rozario said.
Director of Caritas Australia for the Perth Archdiocese, Daniel Chan, said he hoped that Perth Catholics would surpass last year’s fundraising efforts.
“In 2012, Australians in Perth gave a record-breaking $1.2 million,” Mr Chan said.
Project Compassion, which has been held during Lent every year since 1966 in Australia, is a practical way to fulfill the Lenten duty of almsgiving, according to Mr Chan.
“Almsgiving, at its core is about getting things right with our community, of showing solidarity with the poor,” he said. “Our goal is to end poverty by helping the poorest communities to become agents of their own development.”
The theme for Project Compassion 2013 is “Open doors into the future” – a phrase taken from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi.