Charita ČR

Activities
Caritas CR is the biggest nongovernmental provider of social and health services in the Czech Republic. The main activity of Caritas is aid provided to those in need in the territory of the Czech Republic. However, it participates more and more in foreign humanitarian aid. This way, Caritas picks up threads of charitable activities of church, which has almost millennial tradition in the Czech country.

Status
Caritas CR is a legal entity in accordance with Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici). It is part (department) of Roman Catholic Church. The founder of Caritas CR is the Czech Episcopal Conference.

Organizational structure of charity network
Organizational structure copies regional division of the Roman Catholic Church. Members of Caritas CR are six diocesan (DCH) and two Archdiocesan (ACH) charities.
Diecézní charita Brno (Diocesan Charity Brno)
Diecézní charita České Budějovice (Diocesan Charity České Budějovice)
Diecézní katolická charita Hradec Králové (Diocesan Catholic Charity Hradec Králové)
Diecézní charita Litoměřice (Diocesan Charity Litoměřice)
Arcidiecézní charita Olomouc (Archdiocesan Charity Olomouc)
Diecézní charita ostravsko-opavská (Diocesan Charity Ostrava and Opava)
Diecézní charita Plzeň (Diocesan Charity Plzeň)
Arcidiecézní charita Praha (Archdiocesan Charity Prague)
The ninth subject is the Czech Catholic Charity – Priests’ and nuns’ homes. Each of nine members joined in the organization has its own legal entity. Each ACH/DCH is headed by a director; the president – priest takes care of religious life of charitable workers. Delegating powers and method of managing regional (OCH) and parish (FCH) charities is different in individual diocesan and archdiocesan charities. In bigger towns they are in position of regional charities of municipal charity (MCH). Caritas CR operates by means of three hundred and fifty parish, regional, town, and diocesan charities more than two hundred centres: charitable homes, advisory centres, and centres providing aid.

Involvement in the Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Evropa networks
Caritas CR is providing its help to foreign countries by means of department of humanitarian and developing aid and individual archdiocesan and diocesan charities. This aid is coordinated in the large measure with foreign charitable partners joined in international network Caritas Internationalis. The network is one of the biggest and strongest in the world thanks to which Caritas CR is able to find reliable partners in the entire world and help this way also in countries, in which it has no missions or projects. Caritas Internationalis offers background, experience, and potentials for aid coordination. Caritas CR further cooperates with foreign and Czech nongovernmental organizations and institutions.

Caritas CR Secretariat
director: Ing. Mgr. Oldřich Haičman
president: Mons. Josef Šich
Vladislavova 12
110 00 Praha 1
tel: 296 243 344
fax: 296 243 333     
e-mail: sekretariat@charita.cz