Discern lecture

The first in a series of Discern lectures is being held tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Malta Business Centre. The guest speaker will be Tony Meloto, from the Philippines, who will speak on "Total Human Liberation". Entrance is free.

Tony Meloto is a member of Couples for Christ (CFC), a Catholic movement that originated in the Philippines some 20 years ago and now has 1.1 million members in 120 countries.

The movement is also involved in a gigantic project called Gawad Kalinga that is mainly concentrated on eradicating poverty in the Philippines by building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years.

In Malta CFC, whose co-ordinator is Joseph Aquilina, started in 2001 and now has about 50 members. The main aim of Couples for Christ is evangelisation perceived as personal, family and societal renewal.

CFC in Malta has been raising money for a project to build a village of 100 houses in Baseco Compound - a slum area in Manila - which was devastated by fire a year ago. So far, the movement collected enough money, primarily from Maltese families, for 125 homes. The first village of 96 homes was officially opened on November 27 by Malta's non-resident ambassador to the Philippines, Saviour Gauci, and blessed by Fr Elia Vella, who happened to be there on a teaching mission.