Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Catholic Emergency Relief Australia established as a blueprint for disaster response

byMark Bowling
31 January 2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA

Heroes in action: Firefighters contain a bushfire along a highway near Ulladulla, NSW, on January 5. Photo: CNS/Dean Lewins, AAP via Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Heroes in action: Firefighters contain a bushfire along a highway near Ulladulla, NSW, on January 5. Photo: CNS/Dean Lewins, AAP via Reuters

AS communities recover from the current bushfire crisis, the Catholic Church is setting up a blueprint for how it will respond to future disasters in Australia.

It has set up a new collaboration called CERA – Catholic Emergency Relief Australia – to serve as a co-ordination point for Catholic agencies responding to fires, droughts, floods, cyclones and other disasters.

The unprecedented summer bushfires were the catalyst for Church-wide support efforts that included a number of national organisations and donations collected through the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal.

Those national organisations, represented parishes, religious orders, social service agencies, schools, hospitals and aged and community care providers.

 “Our response to the bushfires, and the drought that has exacerbated the fires, has demonstrated once again the collective power of the Catholic Church to respond to disasters in all sorts of ways,” Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.

“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 Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Catholic Religious Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia and the National Catholic Education Commission. 

Other Catholic organisations are expected to join the collaboration soon.

Catholic Social Services Australia chief executive officer Ursula Stephens said organisations like CatholicCare, Centacare and Vinnies were embedded in local communities and were therefore trusted and able to deliver the right services.

Related Stories

Bishops prepare to elect new Conference president

Bishops call for ‘a better kind of politics’

Call for Plenary Council journey to continue with the Holy Spirit

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Dr Stephens said while the national Vinnies appeal continued to be a channel for people to support Catholic agencies responding to the bushfire crisis, CERA would also receive donations that wiould be distributed through a recovery grants application process managed by Catholic Social Services Australia.

“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,” Dr Stephens said.

“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’.

“This is ultimately about us being more responsive in a crisis. This is faith in action …”

A CERA website features a volunteer management portal that will allow organisations to list volunteer opportunities for people looking to provide practical, material and financial support for disaster recovery.

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.

Dr Stephens said CERA’s focus would be on domestic disasters, noting that Caritas Australia was the Church’s agency tasked with responding to emergencies overseas.

Visit the CERA website at www.cera.catholic.org.au

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Charities give assurances on the distribution of donations to bushfire appeals

Next Post

Carmelite Sister Catherine Ann writes about St Thérèse and the ‘beautiful gift’ of her vocation

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Australia’s historic Plenary Council gathering that could reshape the Church
News

Bishops prepare to elect new Conference president

3 May 2022
Bishops call for ‘a better kind of politics’
News

Bishops call for ‘a better kind of politics’

19 April 2022
Call for Plenary Council journey to continue with the Holy Spirit
News

Call for Plenary Council journey to continue with the Holy Spirit

10 October 2021 - Updated on 11 October 2021
Next Post

Carmelite Sister Catherine Ann writes about St Thérèse and the 'beautiful gift' of her vocation

Australia sees inequality worsen and wealth grow

Carmelite Sister to venerate St Thérèse relics again, this time in the habit

Popular News

  • Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christian Brothers’ community mourn the passing of Brother Tony White

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Abdallah family launch forgiveness campaign one year on from crash that killed four children

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

by Staff writers
27 May 2022
0

By Catholic News Agency THE Vatican is inviting Catholics to join Pope Francis in praying the rosary...

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

26 May 2022
Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

26 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping