As massive bushfires continue to burn in Australia, the Catholic Church in the country is developing a blueprint for dealing with future disasters and position the Church as a key responder to national emergencies.
During an unprecedented summer fire season, at least 33 people have died and countless homes destroyed. Some experts fear entire species of animals might be lost.
In addition, Australia has experienced flooding, hailstorms, dry lightning strikes and red dust storms.
Announcing a new collaboration called CERA – Catholic Emergency Relief Australia - Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said the Church and its agencies had a “collective power” to respond to disasters “in all sorts of ways”.
He added: “At its core, the Catholic Church is about people, about families, about parishes, about school communities, about ministries that proclaim and live out the Gospel of Jesus.
“Most of those ministries are local, but there is a national – and universal – dimension of the Church that can sometimes be under-utilised.”
The founding organisations of CERA are the Bishops’ Conference, Catholic Religious Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia and the National Catholic Education Commission.
In Australia, the Church is strong on the ground, trusted and able to deliver through a network f social service agencies, schools, hospitals, and aged and community care providers.
“This is ultimately about us being more responsive in a crisis. This is faith in action and a call to follow our Christian vocation, ” Catholic Social Services Australia chief executive officer, said Ursula Stephens. “One of the Church’s key social teachings is about subsidiarity, which means that we empower local communities to respond to their realities as they best see fit.
“Alongside that, though, sits solidarity, which compels us to see the needs of others and work collaboratively to respond to those needs.
“That response can be most effective when it’s co-ordinated and focused.”
CERA will coordinate relief efforts and distribute donation-based recovery grants through a process overseen by Catholic Social Services Australia.
The St Vincent de Paul Bushfire Appeal will also continue its national efforts to collect donations for fire relief.
“We are establishing the appropriate governance, accountability and transparency measures to ensure that those who see the Church as a key responder to national emergencies know financial and practical support is going to those who need it,” said Dr Stephens.
“CERA will allow us to help people on the long road to recovery from this ongoing bushfire crisis and to mobilise as soon as our country is struck by another natural disaster – mindful that it’s sadly a matter of when, not if.”
Archbishop Coleridge said Catholics continued to pray for an end to the current fires, for rain to quench drought-stricken lands, for those affected by the fires and for those on the front line of responding to the fires.