The former head of Caritas Philippines told social action ministry workers in a meeting last week to confront challenges with creativity “to bear much fruit.”
“We have to constantly develop new ways and creativity,” said Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona of Caceres.
In his homily at the closing Mass of the 40th National Social Action General Assembly in General Santos City on June 16, the prelate told social action workers said that “creativity will give us freshness in our ministry.”
“Creative continuity is very important … this keeps us young in our ministry, in our social action,” he said.
The archbishop also reminded the Church workers that their mission is not to compete with others but to help and foster “communion.”
“So we try to exercise complementarity in our ministry and that is the participation as Church,” said the archbishop.
More than 200 social action workers from different dioceses in the country came together for the assembly that had been stalled for two years due to the pandemic.
Aside from discussions on the Church’s social action work, the four-day event also tackled Caritas Philippines’ advocacy on good governance.
The assembly is expected to release a statement of solidarity with the Diocese of Marbel in its fight against open-pit mining in South Cotabato province.
Social action workers from the 85 dioceses meet for the meeting every two years to discuss programs and strategies.
The next meeting will be held in the Archdiocese of Jaro in 2024, the second time that the archdiocese will host the event after more than 20 years.
