Catholic leader has appealed the church to support the victims of the Quetta attack that took place on Dec. 17, killing 14 and wounding 56 worshippers. Archbishop Joseph Coutts, head of the Catholic community of Karachi, has requested the church to raise funds to help the affected people.
As the treatment at private hospitals are expensive, Coutts urged priests to launch new appeals during Sunday masses to raise funds.
"We have already sent 300,000 Pakistani rupees to the Methodist Church through the Catholic Bishop of Quetta and I wrote a letter to my parish priests to raise funds to support our brothers and sisters in this moment of suffering and necessity," Coutts told Fides.
More than 200 people were gathered at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church during the suicide bomb and gun attack.
"It is not just about the number of dead, injured and the damage to the construction of the Church. There is much more to the loss: one cannot compensate mourning and pain with money, but our small contribution will be useful for those in need," he added.
Since the aid received by the church is not enough to completely take care of the injured people, the church building will be put in the background.
The government of Baluchistan has assured help for the maintenance of the church, but "until now the promised contributions have not yet been paid, not even compensations to the victims or the wounded," said Protestant Pr Simon Bashir.
"We have a temporary set up for electricity, most of the lights are still damaged, and we have lost many of the benches, windows, doors, fans, carpets, radiators, useful for the winter season," he added.
