Social Aid
– Project Veteranos Macarenos
– Social Aid Form
Living, active, hope-filled acts of Charity, as an express manifestation of Christ’s Mandate, constitute one of the fundamental objectives for which the Brotherhood was founded. This objective is still fully justifiable in the world of today. Aware of the new forms of poverty and need rife in our society, the Brotherhood is therefore always keen to provide moral or material support both for its own members who find themselves in need and for other people and institutions which may request help.
The Brotherhood’s commitment to charity work, whether assistive or promotional, is channelled through its own Social Aid organization. Every occasion is sought to give members the opportunity to come together, get to know each other and grow in the virtues of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, thereby generating that joyful spirit of fraternity which binds them together in the Spirit of Christ in accordance with the words of the Divine Teacher: “… BY THIS ALL MEN WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES”.
To turn our commitment to charity into a practical, effective feature of our Brotherhood, at least ten per cent of each year’s budget is set aside for specific social aid projects. This amount includes the Brotherhood’s contributions to General Diocesan Funds. All donations received by the Brotherhood for specific social assistance purposes are also channelled through the Social Aid organization.
The principal groups for whom we attempt to provide aid are:
a) Sick people in need of moral support and material aid.
b) Drug addicts and AIDS sufferers in need of treatment and rehabilitation in specialised centres.
c) Those affected by long term unemployment, insufficient pensions and other humiliating situations of poverty who, while requiring aid, must also be treated with maximum respect for their personal freedom and dignity.
d) The elderly, especially those with physical and material needs and problems of loneliness.
e) The mentally or physically handicapped. We insist that this group be treated with maximum respect, and we work to find channels through which they can be integrated, both socially and in the labour market.
f) Abandoned children who have fallen into drug addiction and juvenile delinquency, in need of protection, educational support, leisure activities, etc
g) Abused, battered and socially disadvantaged women in desperate situations, who must be treated with maximum respect with regard to their rights and who should be given affection, moral support and material aid.
h) Deprived groups, immigrants, exiles and the socially excluded, who need all our solidarity and support, either directly or in collaboration with specialised institutions and assistance centres.
Taking into consideration the Brotherhood’s nature and objectives, and in order to intensify and focus our initiatives to the greatest possible extent, our social aid activities are prioritised as follows:
a) Brotherhood members in temporary or long term situations of need who require our help.
b) Members of the congregation and/or city quarter of La Macarena who may find themselves in difficulties.
c) Charity institutions we are able to support or with which we can establish collaboration agreements, underdeveloped Third World countries and any other groups, whether in Spain or abroad, in situations of social exclusion or poverty.
d) Any other institution or individual who may request our help.
Apart from the above, and subject to its economic possibilities at any given moment, the Brotherhood also undertakes to pay the expenses incurred by any Brotherhood member or any other person with sufficient vocation but lacking in funds to train as a priest in the Seminary. To that end, it has plans to establish a system of scholarships in the Diocesan Seminary. It also makes an annual contribution to the General Diocesan Fund to subsidise the needs of the Diocese.
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