Caritas Fiji, a non-profit making organisation, constituted its Statutes basing itself on Civil Laws, NGO Laws, Constitution of Caritas Fiji and other related Laws. We are part of Caritas Internationalis, an international confederation of 160 Catholic aid, development and social justice agencies. Caritas Fiji subscribes to the Caritas Internationalis Statutes and other related Laws and Decrees as stipulated by the CI Confederation based on its Management Standards, in particular the Safeguarding measures, the Code of Ethics and the Code of Conduct.
Caritas Fiji, as the social arm of the Catholic Church, will associate with the poor as the chosen people of God and build a community of solidarity and concern for the poor leading to a culture of love in all the parishes. In this spirit the work of Caritas will be animated by the following vision:
Caritas Archdiocese of Suva commits to cultivating a socially and ecologically just society.
In order to achieve the vision, Caritas is committed to:
Caritas Fiji’s approach is based on the Social Teachings of the Church, which focus on the dignity of the human person. Caritas’ work with the poor and their causes, manifests God’s love for all creation. Caritas believes in the work of charity towards the poor as well as empowering the poor to be agents of their liberation and development. Caritas Fiji also commits itself to caring for the earth in line with the encyclical Laudato Si.
The dignity of the human person is our foundational moral value. We reject the reification of the poor and seek to make them not objects of our pity but subjects of their own development and agents of change. In this way, Caritas makes God’s love for creation manifest in the world.
Caritas commits itself to combatting poverty, which deprives people of their dignity and humanity, and to promoting the rights of the poor. We commit ourselves to restoring their sense of co-responsibility in building a better world through social and ecological justice. We also recognise and underline the position of women in the society.
Any economic, social, political or cultural structure which opposes, oppresses and prevents change towards justice is sinful. We seek to encourage our membership to redress the balance by working to transform these structures into graced social structures which favour the poor.
Caritas seeks to inculcate in its membership and in its dealings with other non-governmental organisations and global institutions a genuine sense of solidarity. Our solidarity with the poor should not be simply a feeling of sympathy but of empathy and a firm and persevering determination to commit ourselves to the common good.
Caritas commits itself to being in solidarity not only with people but with the whole of creation and therefore seeks to act in an environmentally sustainable way at all times. Caritas holds in paramount importance the human and the environmental balance through an integral ecology.
Caritas Fiji places charity at the heart of society and associates with the poor by helping the Catholic church in Fiji become the prophetic voice for the people who are victims of social and ecological injustices.
It operates within three thematic programs namely:
