Integral Human Development Ministry - AGM 2009

Most people often mistakenly think that the Integral Human Development Ministry (IHD) is just another new fancy name for ministry to the poor. Certainly, a very essential aspect of this ministry is its option for the poor, but it is also so much more.

The IHD is a process that involves:

• Promoting the good of every person and of the whole person, especially of the poorest and most neglected in the community
• Where every person meets their basic human needs
• Where all persons are empowered to free themselves from everything that is dehumanising.

Therefore the whole orientation of the IHD demands that the human person be regarded in a wholistic sense, he is not just to be reduced to his physical and financial needs. Wholistic development calls us to pay attention to his social, spiritual, economic, emotional, mental and physical conditions too.

The IHD of our parish is an umbrella commission that has 9 component ministries: St. Anthony's Meal Project (feeding the poor), Migrants and Refugees Ministry, Parish Ministry of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (PMEIA), Orang Asli Ministry, Urban Poor Ministry (IJ Sisters outreach to the urban poor in Kampung Pasir and its vicinity), Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Prison Ministry, Visitation Emmaus Centre of Counselling (VECC), and the Human Resources Ministry (job placements and referrals).

At yesterday's Annual General Meeting (October 2), the following persons, were appointed and elected to the Board of Management of the IHD Commission:

1. Chairman: Charles de Lima (reappointed)
2. Vice-Chairman: Alfred Selvam
3. Secretary: Melinda Ong
4. Treasure: Lalitha Rozario