Pakistani prelate: Christians should give day's wages to quake relief

Published: 2005-10-10

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNS) -- The president of the Pakistani bishops' conference expressed his grief following the country's worst-ever earthquake and urged all Pakistani Christians to contribute one day's wages for relief aid. Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, conference president, expressed his "profound shock and grief at the large-scale destruction of life and property caused by the great earthquake" that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan Oct. 8. He said prayers were offered in all Pakistani Catholic churches the next day for the eternal peace of the deceased and for the recovery of thousands of injured survivors, according to an Oct. 10 statement issued by his office. "This was the greatest natural disaster in our country's history," he wrote, calling upon all Christians "to do their part" in relief efforts. He urged them to contribute one day's salary to the President's Relief Fund and announced a donation of 500,000 rupees (US$8,357) from the Pakistani Catholic Church, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. The earthquake along the Pakistan-India border was magnitude 7.6. Its epicenter was near the town of Muzaffarabad, almost 60 miles northeast of Islamabad in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

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