(Foto Conferenza episcopale inglese)
The call to raise funds for Advent organised by CAFOD, the agency for aids to the Third World of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is dedicated to Maria, a Ukrainian mother of four who had to flee the district of Berdyansk Raion, in southern Ukraine, and take shelter in the opposite region of the country. The story of the woman and her fight to keep her family warm at icy temperatures has been posted online, and there people can make donations. Also on CAFOD’s website, people can register for an Advent calendar from which they will receive reflections about the Gospel and prayers they can use every day until 25th December. To raise funds, people can organise bake sales after Mass or quizzes or dance parties or be sponsored for a run. Another distinctive idea is the proposal to buy Christmas cards containing gifts for the poorest people in developing countries. With ten pounds (twelve euros), one can fund a class that teaches to read and write or provide hot meals and a roof to those who left their countries because of a war. For five pounds (six euros), one can help a family plant and keep a kitchen garden. All ideas that CAFOD puts in place under a long-standing partnership with some local agencies in the world’s poorest countries.