Ozanam Industries in Australia, the Daughters of Charity and Respect in Ireland, the  Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Nepal, Daughters of Charity in Gaza, the Brothers of Charity all over the world – the common thread – care for the quality of life of people whose human capacities are reduced due to a handicap, illness.

Each of the following links reveals neglected faces of Christ…

• Once known as a sheltered workshop, Ozanam Industries’ Work Centre at West Ryde is one of three centres in New South Wales, offering employment to more than 100 people with disabilities, and combine this role with educating the wider community about the skills, talents and the valuable contribution made by their employees.
• The Daughters of Charity in Ireland provide services through Respect. Since 1892, The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul have worked hard to provide care, education and training for People with a Mental Handicap. We provide a seamless partnership of care for people from infancy right through to old age. Our work is ultimately about people, their dignity and their quality of life. We have the responsibility of caring for 2,300 people, 800 of whom are in full-time residential care, with 1,500 attending our Specialist Centres on a daily basis.
• The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth now run Nepal’s first day care center for the mentally handicapped.
• In a moving report Haaretz reports that on a hilltop in the Ein Karem section of Jerusalem, there is a hidden kingdom of grace, kindness and mercy. Saint Vincent’s, run by the Daughters of Charity, is home to 59 children and youths with severe mental retardation. Most of the residents also have serious physical disabilities. About two-thirds are Arab, many of them of Bedouin origin.  The work here is demanding and draining, but many of the volunteers “have caught the Saint Vincent virus,” says the director of the residence, Sister Katerina Fuchs, and they return year after year. See their blog.
• Brothers of Charity founded by the Belgian St. Vincent  care for the mentally ill and persons with disabilities in about 30 countries on different continents/ They are pioneers in advocacy for the people they serve. Caraes is an NGO managed by the Brothers of Charity and specialized in development aid. The organization supports over 60 specific projects in 16 developing countries. It focuses on three different activities: training and education, remedial care, and mental healthcare. Caraes aims to improve the quality of life of people whose human capacities are reduced due to a handicap, illness, poverty.

And there are many more!