Tsunami relief surpasses $560,000

Catholics in the Albany Diocese have contributed well over a half-million dollars to tsunami relief efforts, according to Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese.

As of Jan. 25, when The Evangelist went to press, the total was $563,381. That figure represents donations to 63 percent of the parishes in the Diocese during a recent special collection. When the remainder have reported, Catholic Charities expects the total to rise significantly.

The donations will be funneled to the victims of the December tsunami in Asia through Catholic Relief Services, the overseas aid agency of American Catholics.

The gifts from the Diocese's Catholics join nearly $500 million that has been given by Catholic agencies around the world, according to the Vatican nuncio to the United Nations.

Addressing a recent special session of the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the efforts were being directed at both emergency relief and long-term projects.

Catholic agencies are placing special emphasis on "ways to bring help to surviving children in the zones worst affected," he said.

Noting the quick response to the tragedy from so many quarters, the nuncio called it "a sign of the fundamental decency of the peoples of the world. It is clear that there exists -- regardless of the things that separate us -- a deep sense of our shared humanity and fragility in the face of such terrible events."

(1/27/05)