The Perth Office of Caritas Australia and Catholic Youth Ministry (CYM) are jumping at the chance to train together in solidarity as they look to raise funds for a special cause.

Just Leadership Days are more than information sessions about fundraising: they engage students with social justice issues and encourage them to be the just leaders of the future, says Global Education Advisor for Caritas WA, Janeen Murphy.

Pancakes were aplenty at this week’s Shrove Tuesday festivities, thanks to Caritas Australia’s Perth office.

“Our story is your story.” This was the theme of Caritas’s 50th anniversary celebration which took place recently in the Archdiocese of Perth.

As Christmas approaches, Caritas Australia is encouraging people to learn, pray and act each day during Advent with an interactive, multimedia Advent Calendar.

Caritas Australia started in the early 1960s among lay Catholics who wanted to make a difference on issues of social justice. To tackle the issues of hunger and poverty, they created the Catholic Overseas Relief Committee in 1964.

Caritas Chile has continued moving materials into an area of northern Chile hit hard by an April 1 earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks, which have prevented some people from sleeping in their homes.

From Lebanon, where he led the church’s response to one of history’s biggest humanitarian crises, Maronite Chorbishop Simon Faddoul will carry with him to Africa the motto he took when he was ordained a priest 27 years ago: “Here I am Lord, send me.”

Caritas Australia, the Catholic Church’s International Aid and Development agency, has a new CEO at the helm.