Catholic News, 6 Feb 2005

ACCT in place, putting together the Singapore Archdiocese’s response to the Tsunami Crisis
 

SINGAPORE The Asian tsunami has been a major disaster. The Catholic Church in Singapore has responded by collecting donations in the weekend following the event, and conducting services in remembrance of the victims including Masses in all parishes

on January 14 Archbishop Nicholas Chia has also appointed an Archdiocesan Crisis Coordination Team (ACCT) to further define and coordinate the response of the church in Singapore to the crisis.

The overwhelming support of Catholics and Singaporeans to the crisis has been moving, said Mgr Eugene Vaz.

Our aim at ACCT is to ensure a sustained and coordinated response to this enormous human tragedy by the Catholic Church in Singapore, he explained.

The other members of ACCT comprise of a few priests and primarily of lay professionals who will use their expertise to help out with the financial and missionary aspects of the work.

ACCT will have three subcommittees focusing on the three key thrusts: grants, volunteers and missions, and protocols and communications.

In a January 21 statement to CatholicNews, ACCT said that they seek to make the response to the tsunami disaster a coordinated and sustained effort. Although ACCT is not collecting any more money now, donors should feel free to continue to give.

We may collect more in the future depending upon the programs and needs, ACCT said.

Below, we publish the rest of the ACCT statement

On volunteers

Several Catholics have volunteered their services to directly help out on the ground with the victims of the Tsunami. This is commendable and we encourage it. However, the opportunities in the current phase of the relief are limited mainly to personnel with medical and other specialist skills that can help out with the infrastructure rebuilding. This is also the situation with non-church volunteer groups.

There will be a greater need and opportunities to help out with the victims directly during the reconstruction phase. ACCT will be looking at coordinating programs that can meaningfully help the victims in Indonesia and Sri Lanka rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the earthquake and tidal wave.

In the meantime, Catholics who have an interest in volunteering can register with the specific church groups that are undertaking relief efforts, or with the ACCT (acct.volunteers@gmail.com). We will match such volunteers to the specific church groups that might be interested.

In addition, volunteers can consider registering their interest with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (www.nvpc.org.sg) where broader opportunities beyond the programs organized by the Church would be available.
 

On donations

The generosity of Catholics in Singapore is shown in the S$1.3 million collected to date, mainly in the collection of January 1 and 2. ACCT will be identifying and disbursing the funds collected to the appropriate efforts and programs in aid of the tsunami victims. There will be transparency and accountability on the use of the funds. The money will be used exclusively in aid of the tsunami victims. Outreach of the funds used will be non-religious and non-political.

Any church groups who wish to request any portion of the funds for its programs to aid the

tsunami victims can apply to ACCT through its secretariat (ACCT_secretariat@yahoo.com.sg). Such requests will be processed in accordance with the criteria set up by ACCT.

There has been no active fund-raising by the church for the tsunami crisis since the first and only island wide collection. No more is planned at this time. As the programs are identified and funded, there may be a need for further fund raising later.

In the meantime, those who wish to continue to donate to the tsunami crisis can do so by writing a crossed cheque payable to The Titular R C Archbishop of Singapore with the words For Tsunami victims on the back of the cheque. These cheques can be given to the priests of your parish.
 

ARCHDIOCESAN CRISIS COORDINATION TEAM (ACCT) MEMBERS

MGR EUGENE VAZ (Spiritual Director)
FATHER PATRICK GOH
FATHER COLIN TAN
FATHER CHARLES SIM (Chair, Volunteers & Mission Committee)
FATHER JOHN-PAUL TAN (Chair, Protocols & Communications Committee)
J Y PILLAY (Chair, Grants Committee)
DR. LIM CHEOK PENG
FRANK WONG
MARGARET LIEN
HELEN YEO
BG BERNARD TAN
DR. JOHN LEE
VIVIAN LIU
GEORGE LIM (Deputy Convener)
WILLIE CHENG (Convener)