History

　　 In the early 1950’s, most of Macau citizen are poor. In addition, the society confront with newly arrived immigrants and refugees. In 1951, Fr. Luis Ruiz Suarez, SJ arrived in Macau. With the spirit of Christian to service our little brother, Fr. Luis borrowed the Casa Ricci (contemporary the head office of Caritas de Macau) to start the “Centro Social Mateus Ricci”. Initially, the service is to refugees only. The center provide services of: supply of food, look for place to live, look for job, and assist in the processing of document. The main purpose of the center is to help refugee to build up their self confidence in a new environment. For the education of children of refugee, the center help to set up the Colegio Mateus Ricci school and Escola de Santa Teresa do Menino Jesus school.

　　In 1971, “Centro Social Mateus Ricci” formally became a subordinate organization of the Diocese of Macau, and a member of Caritas Internationalis, changing its name to “Caritas de Macau.” To answer to the rapidly changing society, Caritas de Macau underwent a series of changes, not only in its organization but also in its services,, according to the principle of improvement and consolidation towards a diversified development. During this period, Caritas de Macau established the Family Casework & Assistance Service, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Home for the elderly, St. Luis Gonzaga Center for the disabled and Institute of Social Work.

　　In the 80’s, following the rapid urbanization and social development of Macau, citizen faced not only basic living problems, but also the psychological adjustment to a new kind of city life: Simultaneously, with the social worker graduating from the Institute of Social Work, Caritas de Macau modified the pattern of its services. In the service of elderly: Caritas de Macau: taking over the management of S. Francis Xavier Home for the elderly from the Canossian Sisters, open three Day Centers for the elderly in Largo de S. Agostinho, Ilha Verde and Taipa Island respectively. In its service to the mentally and physically handicapped people, besides taking over the management of S. Lucia Center and S. Margaret Center, Caritas underlined the value that all people are equal(and as such should all enjoy the same rights) by starting the “Caritas School”, a special school for mentally disabled children. Many services started from the 70’s continued to work in the 80’s such as the: Caritas Women Center, Brito School. The new services of Driving course for physically disabled and Life Hope hot line started to operate at this period. The servicing clients of the above services are the most needy and disregard people of the Macau society.

　　In the 90’s, there was a great reform in the administrative structure of Caritas de Macau, thus including the General Assembly, the Board of Supervisors, the Executive Committee and the Secretary General. Under the directorship of Fr. Ruiz as superintendent, and Mr. Paul Pun, MSW as Secretary General, Caritas adopted modern management methods to more efficiently carry out its mission of service to the most needy, and continue to develop its services according to the needs of the society. Caritas developed services for: homeless, ex-prisoners, youth, elderly housing estate, a special day care elderly center, a kindergarten, a nursery and rehabilitation bus. Through systematic and diversified social services, Caritas de Macau endeavor to realize ” human development” with the goal that all people have the opportunity to develop, to enjoy autonomy and to be independent.