CBCP Orders Second Collection for Haiti Relief

MANILA, Jan. 15, 2010-The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has called for a second mass collection for Haitian relief efforts.

The decision was reached Friday night by CBCP President Bishop Nereo Odchimar after a consultation with members of the CBCP Permanent Council.

Parishes are requested to take the second collection in all Masses that will be held next Sunday, January 24 in all parishes across the country.

Odchimar said the tragedy unfolding in Haiti is heartbreaking and it calls on the people to action to help the people affected by the tremor.

"We pray for those who have perished, for the injured and for the displaced at this difficult and sad time," he said.

According to him, the earthquake which killed thousands of people has devastated a poor nation that is now crying out for the help of the international community.

The CBCP, he said, "will do its part in assisting our brothers and sisters in Haiti."

Though modestly, the CBCP has in the past collaborated in relief efforts with bishops' conferences in other countries whenever there are big calamities that befell other peoples. The latest of which was the tsunami in Banda Aceh in Indonesia. (Roy Lagarde)