Meeting of Volunteers of Caritas Ecuador: Cardinal invites them to work with passion for the Gospel

Cardinal Luis Cabrera, archbishop of Guayaquil, encouraged the members of Cáritas Ecuador to continue working with passion and boldness to share not only material things but the Gospel of Jesus and thus return to people the hope he needs.

In a video posted by Cáritas Ecuador at the end of his first National Meeting of Volunteers, the Purpurado Ecuadorian who presided over the inaugural Mass, stressed that the event has been “an extraordinary experience.”

With the motto “Pilgrims of Fraternity and Hope”, Cáritas Ecuador celebrated in the Diocese of Riobamba his First National Volunteer Meetingwhich brought together more than 750 participants from 23 ecclesiastical jurisdictions throughout the country.

In his message to the participants, the Cardinal invited “the dioceses and parishes to motivate the children and the young people so that we are all charitable and we discover that around us there are so many people with whom we can share, not only the bread, the dress or the water, but above all to share our love, the hope, the gospel, in a word to Jesus, the son of God who came to give us all for love.

“I thank the people who have participated in this meeting and invite you to continue working with that same passion, that same creativity and, with that audacity to break walls and limits to return to our people the hope we need so much,” he said.

First Meeting of Volunteers of Cáritas Ecuador

The event was held in Riobamba from July 4 to 6. The first day, Cardinal Cabrera, also president of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference (CEE), stressed that volunteering is a concrete expression of Christian fraternity and evangelical commitment to the most vulnerable.

In the meeting the participants participated in conferences, panels and training activities aimed at strengthening the identity and mission of Cáritas Ecuador.

Mons. Antonio Crameri, president of Cáritas Ecuador, reflected on the role of volunteering as the engine of hope and transformation in the communities and reaffirmed the need to consolidate the national network of the solidarity institution.

“If we cover ourselves with humility and we are not afraid to step on mud – because if we have to step on mud, we put them on – this gives us this identity of the Caritas volunteer as a humble person who embodies the poverty of the gospel,” said the prelate in his speech during the meeting.

The event also offered spaces of artistic expression, in which each delegation shared folk presentations and samples of its patrimonial wealth.

The volunteer meeting concluded with a Eucharistic procession from the place of the event to the Riobamba Cathedral, where the president of Cáritas celebrated the closing Mass.