2 The Message m for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Commentary: You are a missionary
The person sitting next to
you at Sunday Mass is a mis-
sionary; the family in front of
you . . . the man behind you.
You are a missionary too.
As we come to ever-greater
knowledge that "we" are the
Church, it is equally clear that
"we" are also missionaries, as
the Church exists to bring the
The following commentary
was provided by Msgr.
Clarence A. Schlachter, dioce-
san director of the Society for
the Propagation of the Faith.
Help, hope offered to victims of Indian quake
dence in i947 that it has ac-
cepted international disaster
relief help.
The Red Cross, Red Cres-
cent, Oxfam, and CARE have
rushed supplies and personnel
to the area.
India's longtime border
enemy, Pakistan, even joined
in the effort. "This will bring
the two countries closer to-
gether. Gestures in times of
need cross all other considera-
tions," said a spokesman for
the Pakistani consulate in Ma-
harashtra.
However, crime in the quake
area prompted the Indian gov-
ernment to briefly ban entry by
private voluntary groups into
the disaster zone.
Thieves posing as volunteers
looted villages in two districts
in the quake area, reported
UCA News, a Thailand-based
Asia church news agency.
, Despite the entry ban, Ray-
mond Flynn, the U.S. ambas-
sador to the Vatican, flew to
Egypt Oct. 2 to join two India-
bound aircraft loaded with
supplies and medicine for
quake victims.
According to press reports
from India, Flynn toured hard-
hit villages in the quake area
by helicopter and by car Oct. 5-
6.
In the town of Umarga, near
the quake's epicenter, Flynn
served food on banana leaves
in a makeshift kitchen set up
by the Indian army. About
15,000 people flocked to the air
station kitchen.
"Can I have more?" one girl
nervously asked Flynn.
Flynn was to leave India for
Washington to personally re-
port to President Clinton and
administration officials on the
quake and make recommenda-
tions about further U.S. aid,
according to a spokesman at
the U.S. Embassy at the Vati-
can.
When Flynn accepted the
ambassador post, he said he
did so only after Clinton as-
sured him his job would in-
clude missions to world trouble
spots and efforts to alleviate
human suffering.
The government in the
WASHINGTON (CNS) --
Aid and messages of comfort
are slowly making their way to
the site of one of the worst
earthquakes on the Indian
subcontinent in the 20th cen-
tury.
The Sept. 30 quake, which
measured 6.4 on the Richter
scale, leveled about 90 villages
in a 154-quare-mile area, re-
sulting in an estimated 30,000
deaths, though some accounts
put the toll at twice that.
Tremors continue to rock the
quake region. An aftershock
with a Richter reading of 5.2
hit the area Oct. 9, the most
severe aftershock since the
quake. The tremor caused
panic, but there were no imme-
diate reports of casualties or
damage.
• In an Oct. 1 telegram to
Archbishop Giorgio Zur, apos-
tolic pro- nuncio to India, Pope
John Paul II conveyed his
"prayerful closeness at this dif-
ficult time."
"He commends the victims to
almighty God and invokes di-
vine strength and comfort on
the injured and on those left
homeless," the telegram said.
Catholic Relief Services is
bringing in 400 tons of food,
plus tarpaulins, blankets and
cooking sets to the affected
area in western Maharashtra
state, according to CRS spokes-
woman Sarah Berk.
Most of CRS' aid is coming
from its Bombay office, while
CRS offices in Calcutta, New
Delhi and Madras are also giv-
ing supplies. Ms. Berk said an
Indian merchant whose ware-
house was unaffected by the
quake had offered to store the
supplies.
The Indian army provided
transit for the first three
truckloads of food, Ms. Berk
said. Supplies are now being
delivered via India's railways.
CRS, the U.S. bishops' over-
seas relief and development
agency, was able to send five
people into the affected region
Oct. 2 to get food to survivors
and assess other needs, Ms.
Berk said.
This marks the first time
since India achieved indepen-
Bishop Ferrario resigns
Honolulu Diocese
the changes in Washington.
Joseph Anthony Ferrario
was born in Scranton March 3,
1926. He was ordained a priest
May 19, 1951, after studies at
St. Charles College in
Catonsville, Md., St. Mary's
Seminary in Baltimore and
The Catholic University of
America in Washington.
After ordination he earned a
master's degree in educational
psychology from the University
of Scranton.
He taught from 1951 to 1957
at St. Joseph's College Semi-
nary in Mountain View, Calif.,
and from 1957 to 1966 at St.
Stephen's Seminary in Ka-
neohe, Hawaii.
Latur district asked Caritas
India Oct. 4 to build homes
and undertake rehabilitation
work in two villages, said Fa-
ther Yvon Ambrose, Caritas
India's executive director.
India has set an ambitious
three-month target for rebuild-
ing 30,000 homes lost to the
quake. Contracts have already
been signed to build 18,500 of
the homes. Construction was
to begin before the end of Octo-
ber, with all the homes being
finished by Jan. 26, India's Re-
public Day.
Sharad Pawar, Maharash-
tra's chief minister, said the
homes would be better built
and on better sites than those
lost in the quake.
The World Bank has agreed
to loan India $300 million to
rebuild the villages, and an-
other $1.5 million for a feasi-
bility study on how to build
homes that are more earth-
quake-proof. - - -
Editors: Quake relief contri-
butions may be sent to CRS,
P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore,
MD 21298-9664. Monetary
contributions only are asked.
Checks should be made out to
"Catholic Relief Services," and
marked "India Earthquake
Fund" on the memo line to as-
sure speedy handling.
WASHINGTON (CNS)
Pope John Paul II accepted the
resignation of Bishop Joseph
A. Ferrario of Honolulu for
health reasons Oct. 12.
The pope named Auxiliary
Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of
Scranton, Pa., as apostolic ad-
ministrator of Honolulu with
the faculties of a residential
bishop.
Bishop Ferrario, 67, has
been a bishop since 1977 and
head of the Honolulu Diocese
since 1982. In January 1992 he
underwent quintuple bypass
surgery.
Archbishop Agostino Cac-
ciavillan, papal pro-nuncio to
the United States, announced
saving, healing Good News of
Christ to all people.
In his missionary encyclical,
"The Mission of the Redeemer,
"Pope John Paul II reminds us
of the "immense portion" of the
human family that does "not
know Christ:" millions upon
millions of men, woman and
children.
Think a moment who they
may be: a frightened mother in
Somalia, a workworn father in
a Bangladeshi village, an
abandoned child on the streets
of Nairobi, Kenya.
What difference would
"knowing Christ" make to
them?
Only in Christ can they
know they are children of God
and thus of immeasurable
worth, owed, today, the justice
and dignity due to each unique
person created in God's image
Only in Christ can they know
the gift of salvation, know
their destiny of eternal life
with God.
For the many millions of
people who have not yet come
to know Christ, each one of us
is needed to respond to our
baptismal commitment to
share our gift of faith with oth-
ers, those we meet in our daily
lives and others far beyond our
home, our workplace, our
neighborhood. The person next
to you at Sunday Mass is
needed; the family in front of
you is needed; the man behind
you.., you.
Sunday, October 24, is
World Mission Sunday, the an-
nual celebration of prayer and
sacrifice for the Church's mis-
sionary work. On
we come together
charist, the church
of our resl
baptism and our
take part in the
mission of Jesus.
sion Sunday is "an i:
date in the life of the
Pope John Paul II
cause it teaches how
an offering made to
Eucharistic
all the mission
Our giving is
those who will
Offer; our giving is
portant for us; as di!
Christ we need a
way, to extend
our love of Christ
will never see,
The Propagation
gives us a way!
With help through i
agation of the
Mission Sunday,
dreds of mission
around the world
gently
Sacrifices offers,
parishes on World
Sunday help the
out Africa and Asia'
and areas of Latin
and also provides
work of our
Missions.
Call The Ex
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proceedings
Hay ride
Parishioners at St. Joseph Church, Bramble, enjoy a hay
ride during the annual parish picnic.
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