KUALA LUMPUR — Diocesan Director of Caritas Sibu, Eta Ting Ming Na, has been appointed Executive Secretary for Caritas Malaysia, effective February 26.
She takes over from Charles Bertille who served for three years and was instrumental in helping establish Caritas Malaysia, the over-arching body for all organisations involved in charity and development work.
“When I was offered this position, I realised it would be different from what we do in our respective dioceses. After much prayer and reflection, and with my bishop’s blessings, I accepted the role,” said Eta.
She hopes the three regions of the Catholic Church in Malaysia: Peninsular, Sarawak and Sabah will grow and journey together in synodality “that we may be one” (John 17:18) in Caritas, or love and compassion. (Caritas in Latin means love and compassion) “We need to get together as one, as God wants us to journey together. Our time on earth should be spent continuing the mission of Jesus. God loved us first and we must love Him in return. That is my vision, to listen to Him.”
Eta said, “We are asked to be in the boat with Him and to follow Him to the destination He wants us to go. We are bound to experience stormy weather but we must focus on God. He is the prime mover and He will help us withstand the storm.
“I like to follow the examples of the three siblings, Mary, Martha and Lazarus. We too can imitate their attitudes. Mary would listen and was contemplative. Martha was called to serve, God first and then the people, and Lazarus was raised from the dead. We too need to die to our sinful ways and rise to new life,” she said.
“We are bound to face challenges and sometimes feel discouraged, but we need to realise that God strengthens us and we will be able to face all difficulties.
“That is what Caritas needs to do. We need to be on the ground as we are the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus. If we cannot see God in the poor, then we have failed in our mission.”
