AUSTRALIA : CHARITABLE FUND HOPES TO RAISE 3 MILLION

ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY RELEASE: Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese REPORT
7 May 2012


Ephpehta Centre's Youthful Signing Choir At Strathfield Mass
The Charitable Works Fund (CWF) launched its May Pastoral Appeal yesterday and hopes to raise $3 million to help support six important agencies within the Archdiocese of Sydney.
The agencies assisted in this way are the Ephpheta Centre which provides practical help as well as pastoral care to Sydney's 500-strong community of the deaf and hearing impaired; the Seminary of the Good Shepherd at Homebush; the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine which provides religious education and resources for Catholic children at public schools; the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry which promotes reconciliation and mutual understanding as well as providing pastoral care and support for Sydney's Catholic Aboriginals; and some of the more than 100 programs delivered by CatholicCare, the welfare arm of the Archdiocese.
In addition the CWF helps fund the Archdiocese of Sydney's chaplaincies which provide support and pastoral care to those in prison or in hospital to the seamen on board the tankers and freighters that dock at our ports. The CWF also pays the cost of tuition for 22 candidates for the priesthood studying at the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary of the Neocatechumenal Way at Chester Hill.

The Ephpheta Centre offers
Sydney's deaf community
a social network
as well as pastoral care
"The generosity of our parishioners to our annual CWF Pastoral Appeals have made it possible to continue to make a real difference in people's lives," says Father Philip Linder, Chairman of the CWF.

For the past nine years, the ongoing big-hearted donations, bequests and pledges from Sydneysiders has enabled the CWF to continue its vital support to these agencies which provide practical as well as pastoral care to many thousands of men, women and children across the city.
Each year, Catholic Care, which is one of the city's largest not-for-profit community service providers, delivers locally based intervention and prevention programs as well as a wide range of other programs ranging from job skill training and employment, to aged care and assistance for those with disabilities, as well as help with parenting.
The Ephpheta Centre is equally important providing a social network, support base and pastoral care to the profoundly deaf and hard of hearing as well as conducting regular Masses in ASLAM, Australian sign language.
The Catholic Aboriginal Ministry is another essential agency and since February this year, in addition to fortnightly Masses being celebrated at the Church of Reconciliation at La Perouse, Mass has been held on alternate Sundays in the inner city at the Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, St Mary's, Erskineville.

CatholicCare helps 50,000 families each year
and provides vital help for children at risk
To find out more about each of these agencies including the Seminary of the Good Shepherd and the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary, and their impressive and far-reaching work, obtain a copy of the latest CWF Newsletter from your local parish or log on to www.cwf.org.au

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