ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

June 25, 2008, Montreal - Canadian Catholics have once again shown their generosity. Asked to support emergency and reconstruction efforts in Burma, they promptly sent a total of $ 1.8 million to Development and Peace.

‘It is still a long journey. The full recovery will take at least two years. Cyclone Nargis was nature's nuclear attack on our people. But the tide is turning, because people like you felt their pain from far and rushed with assistance. The Church could save lives because of you’, writes Archbishop Bo of Yangon, Burma, in a letter to the Caritas Internationalis network.

1.5 million people are currently facing an emergency situation in Burma, after a devastating cyclone hit the country on May 3rd.

‘Canadian Catholics were very generous in the face of a crisis that was threatening to be forgotten’, adds Josianne Gauthier, Deputy Executive Director of Development and Peace.

‘Through their response, they sent a message of solidarity to the victims of the cyclone and demonstrated their confidence in the work of the Catholic Church here and in Burma. Thanks to the donations that we received, we will be able to support reconstruction work and help families get back to their normal lives, little by little.’

Parish collection

At the end of the month of May, the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop V. James Weisgerber, asked the Bishops to conduct an emergency collection in all of the parishes in the country.

The parishes had until Friday, June 13 to inform Development and Peace of the amount that they had collected in order to be eligible for the matching funds provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Some 600 parishes declared that they collected nearly $ 1 million. $ 800,000 has already been received from individual donors, religious communities, parishes and dioceses.

Development and Peace is currently participating in an emergency relief initiative led by Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Church’s international humanitarian network. Aid provided includes the distribution of food, medical equipments, water purification systems and temporary shelter for some 60,000 victims of the cyclone. Development and Peace has already sent a sum of $50,000 to the country and is in the process of sending another $500,000 to continue its emergency relief and rehabilitation work.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Eleonore Fournier-Tombs
514 257-8710, ext. 307
eleonore.fournier@devp.org