Project Compassion: Call to unite again poverty echoes teaching of Jesus
By Wendy Shaw
Tasmania’s Catholic community has been urged to ‘unite against poverty’ at the northern launch of Caritas’ 2026 Project Compassion campaign.
Hundreds of students and parishioners attended prayer and commissioning services at the Church of the Apostles, Launceston, on 17 February and at Marist Regional College, Burnie, on 18 February.
Leanne Prichard, Catholic Education Tasmania’s Catholic Identity and Evangelisation officer, said Project Compassion invited everyone to ‘help shape a world where all are welcome and all can thrive’.
“Project compassion calls us to allow our hearts to be renewed, to look beyond ourselves and to reach out with love and acceptance, recognising that every person has dignity, value and worth,” she told those gathered at the Launceston launch.
“This year we are especially called to unite against poverty. This call echoes the teaching of Jesus who invites us to see the world differently, and to respond with compassion to those who are poor or marginalised.”
Launceston Parish Priest Fr Shammi Perera spoke of the distances and difficulties some people endured to get clean drinking water. But he said God does not want us to be poor, spiritually or materially.
“God calls us to get rid of poverty [and to] chose kindness over self-centredness,” he said in his homily.
“For Project Compassion you are the missionaries or the disciples of this message. Spread the message to your friends, your family, your parents, and everyone you meet about this beautiful thing you are going to do in this season of Lent.”
The first Project Compassion appeal in the 1960s raised $50,000 and last year topped $10 million, Caritas Australia’s Sydney-based media lead, Tara Harvey, said.
“The Catholic community does an incredible job that perhaps isn’t as widely known among the rest of Australia – the spirit of giving and the generosity is quite astonishing,” she said during her Tasmanian visit.
Project Compassion highlighted the challenges that some people face in accessing clean water, healthcare, education and opportunities.
“The resources in the world are not distributed evenly,” Ms Harvey said.
“It’s very easy in Australia to forget how lucky we are.
“We have a duty as part of our faith to try redress that balance in some way, and Lent is a really special time when we can do that.”
Tasmanians are among 1700 schools and 1200 parishes taking part in Project Compassion events around Australia.
Caritas is the international aid and development agency of the Catholic Church.
Visit www.projectcompassion.org.au for more information.