Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky together with a delegation visited the Archdiocese of Palo on February 4, 2014. Onboard a 10 am flight from Manila the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) head was accompanied by Catholic Relief Service (CRS) Chairman of the Board and Oklahoma Archbishop Paul Coakley, Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, President of Catholic Health Association, and Carolyn Woo, President and CEO of CRS.
The delegation met Church leaders and relief workers especially from the CRS and to survey the needs following the devastation of typhoon “Yolanda.”
On a meeting with the Disaster response team of the Archdiocese of Palo, the delegation expressed their untiring efforts to help the survivors of the typhoon. The Clergy in turn conveyed their deepest gratitude to the Church of the United States thru Kurtz on their humanitarian response thru the CRS and assistance in the rebuilding of Churches channeled thru the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Distribution of relief goods in the Archdiocese of Palo has ended in the last week of January and the second phase, which will focus on the rehabilitation of communities, will commence. Series of activities are prepared by the Archdiocese to help the members of the different parish communities to support themselves specially in recovering their livelihood.