The Caritas Romania Confederation (Romanian: Confederația Caritas România) or simply Caritas Romania, is a not-for-profit social welfare organisation in Romania. It is a service of the Catholic Church in Romania.
Caritas Romania is a member of both Caritas Europa and Caritas Internationalis.
History
After the Romanian revolution in 1989 and the end of communism, the Catholic Church resumed its charity work and the different Roman Catholic dioceses founded local Caritas organisations to systematically address the social problems of their communities, for example by distributing aid received from abroad among those most vulnerable.[1]
In 1994, the Roman Catholic diocesan Caritas organisations active in Romania at that time established the Caritas Romania Confederation. The goal of this network organisation was to represent the interests of its member organisations at national and international level. Over the years, other diocesan Caritas organisations were established in the Greek Catholic eparchies and subsequently affiliated with the Caritas Romania Confederation.
One of the first important activities launched in 1994 was the home care programme, supported both financially and methodologically by Caritas Germany. Its goal was to provide support to the poor, elderly population especially in rural areas, by supplementing the care and informal assistance provided by relatives, neighbours and volunteers with professional services at a moderate costs.[2]
Other activities implemented by Caritas Romania were the counselling of people with special needs, emergency response in emergency situations, such as caused by natural disasters (e.g. 2005 floods[3]) or conflict (influx of Ukrainian refugees after the 2022 Russian invasion[4]), and anti-drug prevention and counselling programmes.
The organisation is also active in advocacy[5] and provides financial contributions to the humanitarian work of other Caritas organisations around the world, such as Caritas Haiti after the 2010 earthquake,[6] Caritas Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.[7]
Structure
The structure of Caritas is the same as the structure of the Catholic Church in Romania. Caritas Romania consists of the national office located in Bucharest as well as of 10 regional, autonomous Caritas organisations in Romania. They work in four dioceses and two archdioceses of the Latin Church and in three eparchies and one archeparchy of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.
The 10 local organisations are:[8]
| Member organisation (Romanian name) | Member organisation (English name) | Operating area | Established |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caritas Arhidiecezan Alba Iulia | Caritas Alba Iulia | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia | 1990 |
| Asociația Caritas Mitropolitan Greco-Catolic Blaj | Caritas Blaj | Romanian Greek Catholic Major Archeparchy of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia | 1998 |
| Asociația Caritas București | Caritas Bucharest | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest | 1990 |
| Caritas Eparhial Greco-Catolic Cluj | Caritas Cluj | Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Cluj-Gherla | ? |
| Centrul Diecezan Caritas Iași | Caritas Iași | Roman Catholic Diocese of Iași | 1991 |
| Asociația Diecezană Caritas Greco-Catolic Maramureș | Caritas Maramureș | Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Maramureș | 1998 |
| Caritas Catolica Oradea | (Roman-Catholic) Caritas Oradea | Roman Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare | 1991 |
| Caritas Eparhial Oradea | (Greek-Catholic) Caritas Oradea | Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Oradea Mare | 2004 |
| Organizația Caritas a Diecezei Satu Mare | Caritas Satu Mare | Roman Catholic Diocese of Satu Mare | 1990 |
| Federația Caritas a Diecezei Timișoara | Caritas Timișoara | Roman Catholic Diocese of Timișoara | 1993 |
References
- 1."Caritas Romania". Caritas Europa. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 2.Chirugu Gianina, Petrov George Daniel (October 2022). "Models of Christian social work". Technium. 36 ("A new decade for social changes": 523–531. doi:10.47577/tssj.v36i1.7536. ISSN 2668-7798.
- 3."Floods leave trail of destruction in Eastern Romania". ReliefWeb. 21 July 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 4."Caritas continue dedicated support for war victims two months following the conflict in Ukraine". ReliefWeb. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 5."Comunicat de presă - Confederaţia Caritas România". Agerpres (in Romanian). 6 March 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 6."Organizaţia Caritas adună bani pentru victimele cutremurului din Haiti". Adevărul (in Romanian). 28 January 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 7.""COMUNICAT Colecta, în toate bisericile catolice, pentru victimele taifunului din Filipine"". egco.ro (in Romanian). 6 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
- 8."Confederaţia Caritas România". Biserica Catolică in Rômania (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 December 2024.