CARITAS PROPOSES NEW TYPE OF VACATION

To Be Shared with Needy During Jubilee

ROME, (ZENIT.org).- Fr. Elvio Damoli, Director of Caritas-Italy, has appealed for a new type of vacation during this Jubilee year. He pointed out that there are 8 million poor in Italy, that 6 persons out of 10 scarcely make it to the end of the month, and that 4 out of 10 cannot even have one week's vacation away from home a year.

"There is a vast world that does not go on vacation, because they cannot permit themselves this luxury. This is obvious to all. There also are persons who decide to share their vacation in the most varied ways in solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, and persons in difficulty. It is especially significant that the Jubilee of prisoners is taking place precisely in mid-summer, on July 9. This year, 55,000 prisoners in Italy will spend the summer in prison, with the consequent repercussions on their families," Fr. Damoli said.

"A very interesting phenomenon is that of volunteers who choose to spend their free days in 'vacations of solidarity' -- reconstruction projects in Kosovo, Bosnia, Africa, and other places affected by poverty, catastrophes, and wars," the director of Caritas-Italy added.

Fr. Damoli made several proposals for this Jubilee year, including "spending your vacation with an elderly person who is alone in the city, or a beggar at the entrance of a church; or visiting a sick person in hospital, or a foreign prisoner; sharing a week with an abandoned minor, or with a family that cannot have a vacation. The occasions and opportunities are not lacking; all that is needed is to look around yourself."

"Of course vacations are also a right and those who can enjoy them should do so with joy and serenity. But we must remember that solidarity is a duty," Fr. Damoli concluded.

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