Dear colleagues and friends of AOS,
In the aftermath of the mammoth typhoon that struck the Philippines on Friday, Nov. 8 and the massive destruction to life and property in many areas, I ask your continued prayers for and solidarity with the people of the Philippines.
As international efforts are underway to respond to the humanitarian crisis, please help in any way you can by donating to charitable organizations that are assisting in relief efforts. Information on the U.S. Catholic community's response to this emergency and how U.S. Catholics can help can be found atwww.crs.org and www.usccb.org. Please find attached Cardinal Dolan's Solidarity letter on Nov. 11 to Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
Letter from Cardinal Dolan
In Cardinal Dolan's letter, it says that parishes in the United States will be taking up a second collection during the next few days to aid in recovery.
To those of you who serve in our country, here are some practical ways to express solidarity with visiting seafarers from the Philippines and Vietnam:
� Pray with seafarers and tell them you care and are praying for their loved ones back home. If your center has a chapel, have Mass offered for special intention for typhoon victims and when possible invite seafarers to attend.
� Extend open hours at seafarers centers and/or time for ship visiting as a means of pastoral accompaniment.
� Make extra effort to assist seafarers from affected areas by collaborating with ship agents and ship companies, especially to facilitate communication with families back home.
� Means of communications are vital, continue to offer the use of internet and cell phones for families to contact love ones.
Fr. Bruno Ciceri , from AOS Vatican sent an email and he says:
"AOS has received a certain amount of money for the reimbursement of the free telephone cards distributed to Filipino seafarers, to call their home in this time of difficulties.
If you know of Centers that have offered this service to the seafarers and would like to receive reimbursement could please let them to get in touch with me.
Of course it would be good to have some record of the disbursement and some anecdotal stories of the use of the monies could be provided.
The funds are limited and it will be distributed according first come and first serve." Contact Fr. Bruno at [email protected] or ( 39) 06 698 87 131
Just a note, I am from the northern part of the province of Leyte, which was on the path of typhoon Haiyan. Communication lines are down and there is no electricity even now, so those of us who are far away including seafarers from the affected areas could not contact family members directly. But I learned from a 3rd party two days ago that my family members are alright albeit structural damage to their houses. Let us continue to pray for those who perish and those who are still searching for love ones.
God bless you,
Sr. Myrna
Sr. Myrna Tordillo, mscs
AOS National Director
USCCB/Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church
3211 Fourth St. NE
Washington, DC 20017-1194
Tel. 202 541 3035