Cebu Archdiocese relaunches Alay Kapwa for Lent 2023

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu Caritas Incorporated, the social action arm of the Archdiocese of Cebu, is relaunching the Alay Kapwa program of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as a local fundraising campaign this Lenten season.

In 1975, the CBCP created the Alay Kapwa program to be the premier Lenten evangelization and resource mobilization program of the Philippine Catholic Church. It aims to support social action initiatives for communities in need.

“Alay Kapwa was used to respond to the widespread poverty at that time,” Reverend Father Alex Cola Jr., president of the Cebu Caritas Inc., said in a press conference on Thursday, March 30. 

The problem, according to Cola, is that not many parishioners were informed about the program. Though it continued, the program did not make a huge impact. The organization plans to address this problem with better publicity and coordination with the local parishes.

Of Alay Kapwa’s collection, 20% will go to a standby fund for calamity and humanitarian response, 48% to the diocesan social action center fund or Cebu Caritas Inc., for development and justice and peace programs; and 32% to Caritas Philippines as solidarity fund to assist other dioceses.

Fr. Alden John Baran, the program director of Cebu Caritas Inc., told reporters that they aim to raise around P8 million for its social action initiatives and Parish Caritas—the Cebu Archdiocese’s parish-based service ministry that responds to the needs of local communities.

Among the social action initiatives Cebu Caritas implemented was a post-Odette emergency response campaign. The agency helped provide food, shelter, and other essentials to 83,305 families or 499,830 individuals in the province.

The organization also turned over 100 homes to beneficiaries in Sitio Kalumboyan, Barangay Granada, Boljoon town on February 14.

The organization also pursues a farmer assistance program, the Cebu Archdiocesan Integrated Farming Development Program (CAIFDP), and youth scholarship grants through the Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP).

Cola said 113 of 170 parishes in the archdiocese have established Parish Caritas offices.

“With this Alay Kapwa, labi na diha sa atong mga parokya, they can have a portion of [the funds] para maactivate sad ilahang mga programa sa parish level (especially for our parishes, they can have a portion of [the funds] to activate their programs in the parish level,” Baran said.

–Rappler.com