Caritas, the Catholic Charity

This week we had a very pleasant meeting with the director of Caritas a charity run by the Catholic church, North Jordan and were given a tour of their facilities right here in Al Husn, a short distance from where we live.  We had made an appointment with him earlier, but were required to get permission from the central office in Amman first.

 
The Caritas facility was built in the 1800's and looks ancient from the outside, but the inside is very modern--lots of computers, a medical clinic, training room and children's play area.  They run a school and have a community outreach program, provide rent money, food, drugs and other assistance to the poor.  It was all very impressive.

It's interesting that about half the people waiting for assistance were Muslims.

We were thinking that perhaps the reason so many members of the Church think that we should provide for many of their temporal needs and wants is because they are used to the Catholic church being so generous.  Self-reliance is a difficult concept for them to understand.

Arrangements have been made for us to met with the director of Caritas in Jordan at his office in Amman to see if there are any areas in which we might partner with them.  At first glance it doesn't look like they lack for much and are very well funded.