Chilean archbishop donates inheritance to help college students
Concepcion, Chile, 08 July 2013: The archbishop of Concepcion, Chile, has donated
a $50,000 inheritance to a Catholic university in the city to establish a food scholarship
in memory of his late aunt.
“I believe that in Chile, donation is a path we
must take for a more just society, in a bid for freedom for all,” Archbishop Fernando
N. Chomali Garib said at the June 24 ceremony establishing the Yolanda Garib Food
Scholarship at the Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception.
The inheritance
received by the archbishop from his maternal aunt, Yolanda Garib, will serve as financial
aid for meals for students whose parents are imprisoned or immigrants.
The
rector of the university, Juan Miguel Cancino, as well as members of the Chilean Prison
Guard Force, government officials, the ambassador of Palestine, and family and friends
of the archbishop were present at the ceremony.
“We hope that this example
of generosity is followed by many,” Cancino said of the donation. Archbishop Chomali
said that “money is to overcome poverty,” adding that “now I had the opportunity to
lead by example.”
Nearly 80 percent of the university's students are from impoverished
families, and the school is meant to help lift students out of poverty. There is a
“very complex” link between education and social standing in Chile, Archbishop Chomali
said, and it should be overcome.
The archbishop himself comes from an immigrant
family – he is part of the second generation of Palestinian immigrants to Chile.
Ahead
of the ceremony, Archbishop Chomali said that “many, by virtue of their poverty and
discrimination, could not study. And had they had more support, maybe they would have
studied.” “I believe we need to take care of the poorest of the poor, who today are
the children of inmates who are finishing their sentences, and the children of immigrants.
“At
least they know that someone wants to lend them a hand,” he reflected. Source:
CNA/EWTN News