EUROPE: PORTUGAL: 11TH MISSIONARY VOLUNTEER DAY

Agenzia Fides REPORT - 11th Missionary Volunteer Day to be held October 23 at Teatro Miguel Franco and Santana Mercado in Leiria, will reflect on the fight against poverty and social exclusion. "Against Poverty, You Can Make a Difference" is the slogan for the initiative promoted by the Foundation Evangelization and Culture (FEC), with the support of the Missionary Group Ondjoyetu and the City of Leiria.According to information sent from the FEC to Fides, the opening conference will be on the theme: “Promoting human development: from local to global,” by Alfredo Bruto da Costa, president of the Portuguese National Commission for Justice and Peace. "In order to motivate participants to take action against poverty, there will be a presentation of some projects initiated by Amnesty International, CAIS, Jesuit Refugee Service, and Caritas Leiria.In this year 2010, we celebrate the European Year against poverty and social exclusion, and celebrate 10 years of the United Nations Millennium Declaration on the fight against extreme poverty. "These are two examples of initiatives that call for joint action in communion, for the same goal, i.e. integral human development,” says the FEC. “In an increasingly more interdependent world, the great challenge of globalization is to transform this interdependence into interaction. To ensure that this change occurs at the global level, the transformation must take place first at a local and personal level."John Paul II said that "we are all really responsible for everyone." This is a goal that should be permanent: that each person works so that humanity can live in a permanent supportive relationship, where everybody is responsible for everybody else.
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