CARDINAL ROSALES: FAST…FEED THIS LENT

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales is asking people to FAST this coming season of Lent and help FEED the many hungry and malnourished children in the country.

FAST…FEED is actually a program being promoted by HAPAG-ASA, a church and sector-led initiative to combat hunger and malnutrition among children in the country’s poor urban and rural communities. HAPAG-ASA is supported by Pondo ng Pinoy Movement of the Archdiocese of Manila.

In a Pastoral Letter for Ash Wednesday (February 17), Cardinal Rosales appealed to the people “to support HAPAG-ASA in its efforts to care for hungry and malnourished children of our parishes.”  This can be done, he said by giving to HAPAG-ASA what had been set aside from your fasting.

"Your donation, no matter how small, will go a long way as it only costs a mere ten pesos a day or P1,200 to feed a hungry child once a day, five days a week, for six months.  You can save the life of a Filipino child with P1,200,” he said.

The Church encourages its faithful to fast during the days of Lent. The Church prescribes obligatory fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Fridays of Lent. The FAST…FEED program is being implemented through the parishes which are designated to receive the donations from those participating in the program.

HAPAG-ASA fed 118,459 children in 2009. It has fed more than half a million children since its launching in 2005.  HAPAG-ASA employs a holistic approach to feeding and its promise is for people especially the poor  “to have fullness of life through feeding the body and feeding the spirit.” Thus it not only gives out food for the hungry but also teaches children and their parents values that would lead them to a better life. HAPAG-ASA collaborates with dioceses and organizations nationwide.

Alleviating poverty and hunger is at the top of the Church’s social action agenda. Pope Benedict XVI himself pointed out during the United Nations Food Summit in Rome in 2009 that “Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty.” He called on churches to defeat hunger in a planned, responsible and regulated manner to support the sector-wide effort to eradicate hunger.

HAPAG-ASA donation envelopes for its FAST…FEED Lenten program are available in parish offices.

            Following is the complete text of the Pastoral Letter. Read