Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. (Photo from AP)
Street children need not only physical sustenance but also spiritual nourishment – beginning with the sacrament of baptism.
So on Saturday, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will be baptizing 400 poor children from slum areas in Metro Manila who have not yet received the sacrament.
The children are beneficiaries of the Tulay ng Kabataan (TNK) Foundation and are mostly from poor neighborhoods in Tondo and Baseco in Manila,and in Navotas City.
Tagle will first celebrate a Mass at the Manila Cathedral, after which he, together with TNK Foundation executive director Fr. Matthieu Dauchez and 10 other priests, will lead the christening.
“When is so difficult to bring our wounded children close to God, on the opposite, it is very easy to bring the Lord to them through the sacraments,” Dauchez said.
According to a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website, the TNK Foundation was founded in 1998 and has been taking care of poor children in Metro Manila.
With its 24 centers, the organization has helped thousands of children through four programs catering to street children, those with special needs, and those in slum areas.
TNK communications manager Elise Cruse stressed the need for poor families to gain access not just to physical sustenance but spiritual nourishment through the sacraments.
“Families living in the slums and on the streets of Metro Manila are not only exposed to danger and threats, they also go without the Sacraments for long periods of time,” she said.
She added: “We observed that poor families think that they cannot get access to the sacraments because of their poverty. They often think that there is a fee, although these are for free.”
Because of this reality, the TNK Foundation with the Archdiocese of Manila aims to offer the sacrament of baptism, especially to poor children.
This is to “eradicate the impression that poverty hinders them from receiving the grace of the different sacraments given by God,” the Archdiocese of Manila said in a statement. /ATM