“the truest measure of compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them.” .. Greg Boyle (A Jesuit Priest in Los Angelos).
It was late in the afternoon. Teresa (not her true name) realizing that I was a priest, approached me, with these words:
“Father! Please help me to find a job. It doesn’t matter what. The only food I have been giving to my children in these last few days is boiled guava leaves. I have nothing else and no money to buy food for my children”.
I became paralysed. Where to send this woman at this time of the day? What institution would be open and would help her without forcing her to go through a tedious and tiring process of filling out papers and asking for documents and sending her to another institution to get the approval to get the food she needed to feed her children at that right moment? Interesting that she didn’t ask for money or food. Only a job.
After the floods of 2010 which destroyed part of Madeira island, we became more aware of how unprepared we are for such tragedies. The national and international community provided some help. But how many families fell in between the cracks and did not qualify for any help? Mary (not her true name) had a car that disappeared in the middle of water, rocks and branches. Five years later she is still paying for her car. She has a family to be taken care. Her son in law abandoned her daughter and her grandchildren. Her daughter has no job. All the family depends on Mary’s miserable salary.
The death rate in Madeira Island increased 21 per cent in 2014. People I have contacted with all agree that most of the poor who see a doctor when they are sick have no money to buy the medicine. Pharmacies confirm this dramatic situation.
A small group of residents, who attend the English Mass at the Chapel of Penha de França in Funchal, decided to do something about that. They understood that worship and service walk together. Worship without service is good for nothing. They decided to start a group called PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE. Its roots are the English Mass where we have the regular source of income with a second collection at the exit of Mass.
Father Andrade Bernadino