Santiago Taboada Castillo<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the death toll from the earthquakes in Venezuela continues to climb and rescuers search for survivors beneath the rubble, authorities are racing to care for the injured and provide shelter for families left homeless by the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the institutions that provide shelter and food to those affected is the Church in Venezuela, in particular the Diocese of La Guaira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fr. Rafael Montilla, director of communications for the diocese, explains that as soon as the tragedy struck, Caritas Venezuela began seeking humanitarian aid. And the parishes were quickly converted into food distribution points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RAFAEL MONTILLA<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What's in a food bag? Well, look, it could be rice, pasta, sardines, tuna, toilet paper, cleaning supplies... anything of the sort. We put together a nice little bag and give it to them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Church in Venezuela is also continuing to provide pastoral care. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, priests from the diocese were searching the rubble for loved ones, friends and parishioners. Neighboring dioceses also sent priests and missionaries to celebrate Mass and minister to those afflicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RAFAEL MONTILLA<\/p>\n\n\n\n We visit families nearby who we know have lost loved ones. When people see us in our priestly clothes on the street, they stop us: \u201cPlease pray for my brother, we can't find him\u201d or \u201cplease pray for my family.\u201d \u201cFather, can you help us?\u201d Just being there alongside the people is itself a sign of God's presence and proximity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Rafael Montilla and his fellow priests from La Guaira are now doing everything they can: celebrating Masses, funerals, comforting parishioners, visiting the wounded, hearing confessions and, above all, lending an ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Diocese of La Guaira now faces the challenge of continuing to provide humanitarian aid and pastoral care despite a decrease in donations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Santiago Taboada Castillo As the death toll from the earthquakes in Venezuela continues to climb and rescuers search for survivors beneath the rubble, authorities are racing to care for the injured and provide shelter for families left homeless by the disaster. Among the institutions that provide shelter and food to those affected is the Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":92208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PjzewrRFXqU","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bchiesaaiutivenezuelaeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bchiesaaiutivenezuelaint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92211"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92215,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92211\/revisions\/92215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}