Universidade Católica Portuguesa recognises its responsibility to promote solidarity and to structure volunteering and the spirit of service in the context of its academic community. Likewise, knowing itself to be an integral part of the larger community that surrounds it, UCP assumes the commitment to add value to organizations and initiatives of recognized social interest, whose vision is aligned with the mission of UCP: to promote the integral formation of the person, oriented towards the global reality, based on the principles of truth and respect for people and the environment.

In this spirit, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa is once again organising a national Christmas Solidarity Campaign, until December 17. In Braga, the campaign supports the Food Bank Against Hunger (NGO) of Braga.

This institution's mission is to fight against waste by recovering surpluses and taking them to those in need.

The campaign encourages donations of food items such as milk, biscuits, olive oil, oil, rice, beans, tuna, sausages, pasta, sugar and cereals.

Leave your donation at the entrance of the Camões Campus and the Faculty Square buildings.

The Universidade Católica Portuguesa is once again organising a national Christmas Solidarity Campaign until December 17. In Viseu, the campaign is associated with the Ready to Help project and the Ordem Terceira de S. Francisco de Assis.

Ready to Help is a Solidarity Action Project developed by students of the Viseu Regional Centre of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and currently counts on volunteers from several higher education institutions in Viseu: students, collaborators and professors.

It is a project that focuses on various solidarity dimensions such as literacy, health/wellbeing and environment.

Its premise is Help to Help, which after the success of last year's campaign, this Christmas, will deliver clothes that were donated throughout the year, to three institutions: Cáritas Diocesana, Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa and Centro de Apoio a Deficientes de Santo Estevão.

The Ordem Terceira de S. Francisco de Assis, based in the Church of Terceiros Franciscanos in Viseu, has as its mission to observe the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ following the example of S. Francisco de Assis.

With this purpose in mind, several initiatives have been carried out, such as a charity called Pão de Santo António, for more than four decades.

This initiative consists of giving support to people, through monthly vouchers that entitle them to bread and milk. Apart from this monthly initiative, support is also given to difficult and proven cases, in the payment of electricity, water, medicines, etc. At Christmas, it is usual to donate baskets with food products.

Take part in the collection of clothes and food for these two causes, and drop off your donation at the University Building Hall or the D. José Pedro da Silva Library Hall.

 

It was in Sunday school that it all began: "When I started to help teach Sunday school, I started volunteering without really realising that I was doing it," says Mariana Rossi. The student of the Masters in Psychology of the  Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia (Faculty of Education and Psychology) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Porto, started her voluntary work at 14 years old.

Today, aged 21, she takes part in three different voluntary groups and has never stopped teaching Sunday school. But it was when she entered university that she got to know different causes and different realities.

In the first year of her degree in Psychology, she got to know CASO – Católica Solidária, the Porto Regional Centre's volunteer group, and signed up. Three years later, she is one of the students responsible for her own group of volunteers.

"I always try to convince everyone to do voluntary work", she confesses happily. To young people, she asks "not to be afraid, nor to think that they are not capable", and even if they think that volunteering is not for them, "to try it, because for sure they will succeed in "touching at least one person".

Mariana has already managed to touch many people with her work. Through the University, she started this journey in the association O Meu Lugar No Mundo, which promotes the education of vulnerable children and young people. In this association, she helped a child with their studies and homework. This dedication did not prevent her from taking part in other projects, such as GAS'África, which involves nine months of training and a field mission.

"The training helped me to understand who I was and how I was with other people, it gave me tools to better serve the people I work with," she says. But it was during the five-week mission in the Algarve that "everything made sense" for the young volunteer.

"I didn't want to leave, I felt that my mission was to do what I was doing there," she reveals. In the Algarve, she had the opportunity to meet different people and realities. "I worked in Roma camps, shelters, with refugees..." The diversity she encountered was "very encouraging and a learning experience", she explains. "I realised that if I have the willpower and am available, I always have something to give to people, no matter who they are. And I feel that they have given me much more than what I may have given them."

These volunteering experiences contributed not only to her personal development, but also to her choice of Master in Psychology with specialization in Education and Human Development. "With volunteering, the course was making more sense and was becoming more meaningful," explains the student. "I realised that my way of helping others was not so much in an office, as a clinical psychologist, but on the ground, within a community."

For Mariana, volunteering is "opportunity". An opportunity to learn, about ourselves and about the world, but above all: "It's an opportunity for me to give my contribution to the world, to leave a mark on the world and on the people in it".

Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) collaborates with the Santa Rafaela Maria Foundation, through the TASSE project, to fight discrimination and improve the skills of vulnerable people. As part of this partnership, UCP promotes the Foundation's Christmas Market.

The Christmas Market of the Santa Rafaela Maria Foundation and TASSE will be held on December 18th, between 10am and 8pm. This Christmas Market is part of the Foundation's Christmas Festival and is part of the Escolhas de Portas Abertas initiative, while also being a showcase of the activities developed at TASSE.

Within the scope of this collaboration, Pedro Zambujo and Catarina Gaspar, students from Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics, support the TASSE project through Excel training for people from the Quinta da Fonte da Prata neighbourhood. The second Excel training, taught by UCP students, is running until December 22nd.

The TASSE Project, which has existed since 2004, has developed its work in the Quinta da Fonte da Prata neighbourhood, focusing on improving the school inclusion of children and young people and increasing the skills and opportunities of the population of the community where it is located.

Since January 2021, UCP has collaborated with the Santa Rafaela Maria Foundation, as part of the consortium promoting the TASSE-E8g project, under the Choices Program (Programa Escolhas). This programme aims to fight discrimination, strengthen social cohesion and promote equal opportunities. Integrated in the High Commission for Migrations, its mission is to promote the social inclusion of children and young people from contexts of socio-economic vulnerability, reinforcing the UCP's commitment to Sustainable Development Goals #4 and #17 of the 2030 Agenda.

 

ProChild CoLAB against Poverty and Social Exclusion and Universidade Católica Portuguesa support the signing of the Pact for Children on the occasion of the commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and ratified by Portugal in 1990.

This petition calls on all Portuguese sovereign bodies, autonomous regions and local authorities, bodies and services of the state administration, businesses, social organisations and citizens to assume, within their sphere of influence, the priority of children, through active public policy measures and concrete actions to ensure a happy childhood in a cohesive and harmonious society.

To promote this culture of protection and children's rights, the Pact for Children urges to ensure the promotion of social inclusion and the fight against child poverty; to extend prevention and protection against all forms of discrimination and violence against children; the participation of children in decisions and processes relevant to the promotion of their rights and the active promotion of a culture of children's rights at all levels.

Sign the petition here 

ProChild is a collaborative laboratory that aims to develop a national strategy to fight poverty and social exclusion in childhood within a transdisciplinary scientific approach, articulating the public and private sectors, linking academics and professionals in the field, and actively contributing to science-based public policies.

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The will to help others has always been part of Francisca's life. Maybe since she was a child, when she was a proud Girl Scout. But it was at secondary school, and later at university, that volunteering became a serious thing.

The "Ready to Help" project, created by the 21-year-old student from the Faculdade de Medicina Dentária (Faculty of Dental Medicine), in Viseu, with the help of professors and colleagues, has become a reference in supporting people in need in that city.

With over 100 volunteers, the group, which will soon be set up as a youth association, has been growing and proving, according to the student, that "young people are supportive and often don't get more involved in these types of projects because they don't have the necessary information".

This is why, according to Francisca Neves Almeida, "the group invests so much in promoting its projects and campaigns on social media". And one thing is for sure: those who visit "Ready to Help"'s Instagram or Facebook page can immediately find out about all the campaigns, both those already carried out and those still in progress.

The Christmas campaign is currently underway, "with the collection of food and non-food items to be delivered to families in need", but the other initiatives "are not forgotten", ensures the volunteer. Such is the case of support to the elderly, a project that "was born during the pandemic, when many elderly people were found alone in their homes, or without visits from family members in the nursing homes where they were staying".

Thus was born the "Caring Calls" initiative, which "kept many elderly people company and continues to do so, as the volunteers maintain contact with these people, even though there is no longer any confinement".

But this is not the end of the areas of intervention of this group of volunteers born in the Regional Centre of Viseu of the UCP. "The concern for the environment is constant and the group has been investing in initiatives such as ecological walks to collect rubbish, or raising awareness for the use of sustainable masks," adds the student.

Ready to help is the motto of this group of volunteers that, according to Francisca Almeida, "could not exist without the support of the University".

"The Universidade Católica Portuguesa is the anchor of the project", says the volunteer, remembering "the constant help of teachers and employees, such as Andreia Seco from the university secretariat, or professors Nélio Veiga, Maria José Correia, Clotilde Passos and Célia Ribeiro. And of course the colleagues".

"Without all these extraordinary people, none of what we do would be possible," adds the Ready to Help president, on this International Day of Volunteering, established by the United Nations in December 1985, to encourage and value voluntary service throughout the world.

The Universidade Católica Portuguesa is once again organising a national Christmas Solidarity Campaign. In Porto, the campaign supports Casa Mãe Clara of Casa de Saúde da Boavista and the Bagos d'Ouro Association.

Casa Mãe Clara is a social project of Casa de Saúde da Boavista that provides daily assistance to 150 people in need through a full meal, healthcare, clothing and other basic necessities. Every day, it serves more than 150 lunches to people and families in the city. The support with some food items, such as pasta, rice, beans, tuna and sausages, is essential to ensure that there is always food for another meal. Learn more about the project here.

The mission of the Bagos d'Ouro Association is to promote the education of children and young people in the Douro region, who live in economic deprivation, as a form of social inclusion in the territory. It is present in 6 Douro municipalities - Alijó, Armamar, Murça, Sabrosa, São João da Pesqueira and Tabuaço - and works with more than 200 children and young people. The promotion of reading habits, with books and stories for young people in the 1st and 2nd cycle was one of the needs raised by the association and that the Porto campus decided to support with the campaign. Learn more about the project here.

The SDG Week, organized by the Center for Responsible Business & Leadership, aims to promote knowledge and engagement around the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their strategic importance for the Corporate Sector.

Between the 21st and 25th of September, undergraduate and master's students can attend different sessions to discuss the importance of the SDGs and the challenges around sustainable development.

Under the motto “What Drives You?” the SDG Week aims to enable connections and inspire students to thrive as Responsible Leaders and chose a purposeful path.

The event will have six sessions that will be held on the CATÓLICA-LISBON campus and live-streamed via Zoom.

The SDG Week will gather renowned guests from the United Nations, other universities, and businesses taking action towards sustainability. The event features different workshops and panels of guest speakers that will share their organization's best practices and businesses cases on the SDGs.

The participants will also be able to attend the screening of the documentary The Decade of Action and, to celebrate the Portuguese National Sustainability Day, the students can attend an interactive session to deepen their knowledge through dynamics and a business modeling game.

The audience will have the opportunity to watch the 30 min documentary, reflect on it and have a meaningful conversation with some of the people responsible for it.

"The Decade of Action" is a remarkable documentary on sustainability and why businesses need to go all-in if we want to achieve the climate goals, the SDG's and keep our world safe for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  

The panel of guests include:

• Filipe Santos, Dean at CATÓLICA-LISBON and Social Innovation Thought Leader in 2019 by the Schwab Foundation
• Wim Vermeulen, Director of The Decade of Action
• Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Prof. Ioannis Ioannou, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School

You can find more information about the event and enrollment here. 

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at creating a global model to eradicate poverty, promote prosperity and well-being, protect the environment and combat climate change.

To raise awareness of these common and global challenges, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa launched, as part of its Strategic Development Plan, the innovative Strategic Initiative called "SDG Curricular Units". This initiative aims to introduce in the academic curriculum of 1st cycle students, subjects specifically dedicated to the study and understanding of several SDGs.

Scheduled to start at the beginning of the second semester of the current academic year (2021/22), the "SDG Curricular Unit - Humanity's major challenges" will cover, in a first experimental phase, SDG #13 (Climate Action), due to its importance within all the grand challenges.

For the 2022/23 academic year, three more ODS Curricular Units will be developed, which may include students from other study cycles.

 

 

Within the scope of fulfilling the Sustainable Development Agenda, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa is launching a Cycle of Conferences on the Sustainable Development Goals, which will take place throughout the year 2023, focusing on the Environmental, Social and Economic dimensions.

"The Sustainable Development Goals: what are they and why are they relevant?" is the first session of this set of conferences. The event takes place on March 23, at 5 pm, in auditorium 511 at the headquarters of the University, in Lisbon, and will be broadcast live.

Filipa Pires de Almeida, professor at the Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics and Deputy Director of the Center for Responsible Business and Leadership, Mónica Dias from the Institute for Political Studies, and Sofia Monteiro, a student at the Lisbon School- Faculty of Law, make up the panel of speakers.

This initiative is part of the objectives of the UCP Sustainability Agenda (2021-2025) and is aimed at the entire community of the four campuses of Católica, as well as alumni, local residents, and community organizations.

The event will be held in Portuguese.

Sign up here

 

Universidade Católica Portuguesa joins the campaign "What if Volunteering Ended Tomorrow?", an initiative of the Portuguese Confederation of Volunteering (CPV).

Portugal has a much lower rate of Volunteering than the average in Europe. Even so, young people represent the age group which does most volunteering in Portugal.

In this context, we invite all young people aged 15 to 30 living in Portugal to complete this survey by April 29.

After collecting, analysing and processing the data, a report will be created with a reliable portrait of Youth Volunteering in Portugal. This will be disseminated and, subsequently, an action strategy will be developed to meet the challenges, wishes and ambitions of young people in Portugal in the field of volunteering. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to promote youth volunteering in Portugal.

CPV represents more than half a million volunteers, who put their time and talent at the service of the community. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many social challenges and intensified the difficulties of many families, who now face increased challenges for which the cooperation of all is needed.

Volunteering is essential to give a hand to the most vulnerable. However, are the younger generations aware of the importance of caring for those to whom life has not given so many reasons to smile? If yes, what are their motivations and needs? If not, what needs to change and what path should be followed?

For Eugénio Fonseca, president of CPV, "This is an initiative of singular importance and that fills us with pride. It is very good to realize that there are young people concerned about the direction that society is taking. It is time to act and prepare the future and CPV wants to be in the front line for the construction of a fairer, happier and more equitable world".

 

CAtólica SOlidária (CASO), the volunteering unit of the Porto Regional Centre of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, won 2nd place in the 1st Volunteering Contest promoted by the Volunteering Network in Higher Education (R-VES) in 2021, which aims to encourage the practice of volunteering, research and training in this field and recognition for the work developed by the Higher Education community.

Carmo Themudo, coordinator of the Unit for the Integral Development of the Person (UDIP), says that this award is "the recognition of the work of many people over almost 20 years and the appreciation for the commitment of our students in building a better world" and adds that this should also be seen as a "stimulus to continue, as it reinforces the pledge that the university has made in formative volunteering".

The contest, sponsored by Caixa de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo do Noroeste, CRL, distinguished projects in three areas of volunteering - "Volunteering Actions", "Research in Volunteering" and "Training in Volunteering" - carried out by members of the R-VES and its academic communities, as well as other Higher Education Institutions.

"The award received will enable the expansion of international volunteering opportunities for Católica students," says Carmo Themudo.

The Universidade Católica Portuguesa is a founding member of R-VES, born on 18 October 2019, on the occasion of the 1st International Symposium on Volunteering in Higher Education, at the University of Algarve. This network counts on the participation of 20 Higher Education institutions and aims to promote and disseminate volunteering practices, volunteer management and research in higher education in Portugal.

CASO was founded in 2002 and its mission is to promote solidarity and to structure volunteering as an "educational imprint that transforms for life", strengthening the links between Católica in Porto and the surrounding society.

The Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU), of which Universidade Católica Portuguesa is a founding member, has published the chapter "Catholic Universities' Ethical Engagement Through Environmental Sustainability Education" in the book The Emergence of the Ethically-Engaged University, integrated in the International and Development Education book series (INTDE).

Developed by Maria Manzon, Bandera Lihoma, Paolo Gomarasca, Roberto Maier, Ignasi Boada, Alba Sabaté Gauxachs, and Lilian Ferrer, members of the SACRU’s Working Group 2 on Laudato Si, this chapter contributes to the academic debate on sustainability in a higher education context by focusing on the role of Catholic universities from an ethical perspective.

According to SACRU, besides presenting the framework of international agreements and conventions that “help produce education systems that respond ethically to the sustainability of the environment in which people live” this work also “illustrates the impact of the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si′ and its ethical principles in provoking a worldwide debate about the ecological question.”

This work suggests that “by their ethical missions and identities, Catholic universities should see themselves as particularly well-positioned and equipped to lead the world toward a more just future for all.”
 

Read the chapter here

In the week that marked the International Volunteer Day, on December 5, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa featured four stories of students who talk about their experience with volunteering.

Francisca Almeida, from the Regional Centre of Viseu, tells us that the will to help others has always been part of her life. Maybe since she was a child, when she was a proud Girl Scout. But it was at secondary school, and later at university, that volunteering became a serious thing.

The "Ready to Help" project, created by the 21-year-old student from the Faculdade de Medicina Dentária (Faculty of Dental Medicine), in Viseu, with the help of professors and colleagues, has become a reference in supporting people in need in that city.

Read the article about Francisca Almeida

For Eva Viana, from the Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Braga, it was at university that volunteering became a serious part of her life. 

"The difficulties experienced by my family led me to want to help those most in need", she says. It was not by chance that, when it came time to choose, she opted for Vida Norte, an association that supports families in need.

"I chose the Vida Norte association because I would have liked my family to have had help from associations like this when they needed it most," says the young volunteer, adding with emotion that "it wasn't easy. The family was big. There were six children and two adults living on two minimum wages".

Read the article about Eva Viana

The desire to help others has always been present for Rita Pelágio, a student at the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, in Lisbon. "This eagerness to have an impact on people's lives is an addiction. Once you start it's impossible to stop doing things for those who need it most," she says.

This is why she always finds time for voluntary work and, twice a week, keeps patients company at Santa Maria Hospital. In the post-surgery service, "the hours are spent talking to patients". I can't do more than that. Comfort is made by talking. Keeping company, but I believe that it does a lot of good to those people", she says.

Read the article about Rita Pelágio

Mariana Rossi, a student at the Faculdade de Educação e Psicologia of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto, started her voluntary work at the age of 14, in Sunday school. Now, aged 21, she is one of the students responsible for her own group of volunteers at CASO - Católica Solidarity.

For Mariana, volunteering is an "opportunity". An opportunity to learn, about ourselves and about the world, but, above all: "to give my contribution to the world, to leave a mark on the world and on the people who make it up".

Leia o artigo sobre Mariana Rossi

On the weekend of March 25-27, 10 students from 3 campus (Porto, Braga and Lisboa) of the UCP headed to Madrid to participate in a training session of Project Fly 2022, a University Volunteering Program in Europe with exchange and learning experiences in the field. This program aims to increasingly strengthen the commitment of partner universities to sustainable development and contribute to the awareness of university communities to the problems arising from inequality and injustice.

These students will carry out their volunteer projects in July and August in Spain, Italy, Bosnia, Kenya, and Slovakia through activities with migrants, people at risk of exclusion, and communities and people in vulnerable situations.

In the words of one of the participants, Rita Reis from the Master in Tax Law in Porto: "This training was very important, allowing us to learn to manage conflicts in the best way, to listen to the ideas of others, as well as to expose our own ideas and, above all, to 'put ourselves in the shoes of others'. All this mixed with interesting, fun dynamics and excellent speakers who gave us excellent perspectives on how to face reality in the society in which we live."

In the words of another volunteer, Beatriz Costa, from the Political Science and International Relations degree program in Lisbon: "This weekend served not only to have a deeper insight into what will be the great adventure of my life so far, but also to meet so many people with different contexts from mine, but who have exactly the same purpose: helping others without receiving anything in return."

The FLY project is coordinated by the Jesuit Universities of Spain: Comillas (Madrid), Deusto (Bilbao) and ESADE (Barcelona) to which have joined the Universities Loyola (Andalusia), LUMSA (Rome, Italy), Mateja Bela (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia) and the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Each university involved presented volunteering and/or service-learning projects in their home country, with the possibility of receiving students from other partner universities.

"Universidade Católica Portuguesa is an institution deeply committed to sustainability". It was with these words that Margarida Mano, Vice-Rector of Católica, launched the Cycle of Conferences on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), on March 23. 

With the aim of leading by example in the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Agenda, Católica is holding a Cycle of Conferences on the SDGs during 2023, focusing on the Environmental, Social and Economic dimensions.

"We can look at the world through two lenses: we can focus on all the problems that exist, or we can look at the world through the lens of hope and the transformation we can make," said Filipa Pires de Almeida, Deputy Director of the Center for Responsible Business and Leadership.

The researcher, an expert in sustainable strategies for business, explained that "the SDGs are an agenda that helps us look towards the other side of the world, towards the future. They are the most comprehensive agenda, and the only universal language we have as humans to lead us to the other side of the globe."

Launched in 2015, this agenda includes 17 SDGs, agreed upon between 179 States, companies and Non-Governmental Organisations, with 2030 as the deadline to achieve these goals. However, for Mónica Dias, lecturer in the Chair on SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Effective Institutions, "what matters is not whether we will reach this goal in 2030, but that we are acting".

The lecturer and Vice-Director of the Institute for Political Studies highlighted that "these goals are a kind of beacon, a horizon, an expectation, for the future of the planet and of humanity".

Also present at the conference, Sofia Monteiro, President of the Academic Association of the Católica Faculty of Law, in Lisbon, spoke about the problems of higher education in Portugal and the SDGs that most impact students: quality education, gender equality, action against global climate change and peace, justice and effective institutions.

"We are part of the solution, as leaders of the future," she said about all young people. The law student suggested that for young people to get in touch more directly with the SDGs, they should start from the beginning of their degree, with practical projects, in their different areas of study.

Closing the conference, Filipe Santos, Dean of Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, recalled that "having this agenda is fundamental" for the action of individuals, companies, universities and governments to go beyond what is "comfortable".

"We cannot remain indifferent to the challenges that exist in the world and we have to take responsibility," he concluded.

The Universidade Católica Portuguesa is once again organising a Christmas Solidarity Campaign at a national level. In Lisbon, the campaign supports the Alcântara Public Bathhouse, as part of the research and university extension project of the Escola de Enfermagem (Lisbon) of the Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, which, since 2014, provides nursing consultations to the vulnerable population in the Alcântara Public Bathhouse through professors, researchers and students.

People find in the Public Bathouse the possibility to take a bath and change into clean clothes, aspects related both to hygiene and personal and social well-being, which are elementary in human intimacy and dignity.  But because there is a great shortage of undergarments in these spaces, we invite the entire academic community this Christmas - under the motto: "Intimacy and Dignity" - to offer underwear, socks, gloves, caps and scarves, for both sexes and all ages.

Leave your donation at one of the following locations:

• Old Building - in the main atrium, next to Auditorium 1
• John Paul II University Library Building - in the Chapel
• CATÓLICA-LISBON Building - in the reception on the 4th floor 

The project of the Escola de Enfermagem

The public bathhouses in Lisbon are municipal resources, aimed at the vulnerable population and managed by the parish councils. Most of them originated in the 1930s. Almost 100 years after their existence, it was important for the researchers of the Escola de Enfermagem (Lisbon) who are part of the research project "Public Bathhouse Nursing" to understand the current users' typology.

With the purpose of characterising the socio-demographic and health profile of the users of the Alcântara Public Bathhouse, the first study was conducted in 2013 and concluded that the typical user was: male (78.6%), single (66.2%), in the active phase (87.5%), living in Alcântara (25.5%) and of Portuguese nationality. Health and economic conditions, loneliness, as well as homelessness (29.7%) seemed to be the reasons for using the PB.

This was followed by two more Diagnoses of the health situation of users, this time of the Arroios Public Bathhouse, in 2018, and in 2020 of the Bathhouses allocated to the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior, the Public Bathhouses of Alfama and Mouraria. Sanitary and economic conditions, loneliness and homelessness continued to explain the use of those resources. Based on the needs expressed, the Católica Nursing School of Lisbon has been offering, since 2014, a Nursing consultation at the Public Bathhouse of Alcântara.

The researchers' concerns regarding people experiencing homelessness are: families and the experience of parenthood, poverty, social isolation and the pandemic situation of COVID-19.

Pope Francis has called upon Catholic educational institutions to "foster relationships and collaboration at this particularly difficult time of the pandemic," thus creating "a culture of dialogue that can bring answers to the deep concerns of our society, ending the individualism, sectarianism and rejection that torment it", in a message read this afternoon at the opening of the II Simpósio Global Uniservitate, organised in partnership with the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. 

In the communication read by the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, Bishop José Ornelas, the Pope also appealed to Catholic universities to promote projects that "at their conclusion do not remain at a purely academic level, but form the heads, hearts and hands of their students in solidarity and fraternity".

The opening of the II Uniservitate Global Symposium for the promotion of Service-Learning education, organised on 28-29 October by UCP and Uniservitate, with the coordination of CLAYS (Latin American Centre for Service-Learning Solidarity), also featured a message from the UN Secretary General.

António Guterres stressed that "the world we live in faces enormous threats in a context of acute divisions and is confronted with a multiplicity of crises", giving as examples "the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, geopolitical conflicts and tensions, a wave of distrust and disinformation, threats to Human Rights under fire, Science under attack".

"Now more than ever, we need to overcome divisions, reduce human suffering, restore trust and inspire hope. Quality education is at the heart of meeting these challenges. Universities, in particular, are called upon to play a central role in finding solutions and promoting the 2030 Agenda," António Guterres added.

Recalling the "challenges at a global scale," the Portuguese official stated that "partnerships established from civil society organisations and, in particular, from the university environment, are therefore of enormous value, with a view to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in order to reduce inequalities and promote dignity and hope for all of Humanity.

Integral education connected to society

Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, pointed out that "in a time of increasing new and contradictory protagonists, this call means claiming the right to do things differently, it means finding a valuable proposal that does not result from reacting to short-term trends or needs, but that anticipates the great societal changes and leaves no one behind".

"An education that forms the protagonists of the future must also encourage risk, because educating and learning is inexorably a risky act," added the UCP Rector, in a reference to Pope Francis.

"Here at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, we are engaged in a curriculum transformation developed with the support of PORTICUS to implement service learning across the university," added Isabel Capeloa Gil referring to the CApS Project - Universidade Católica and Service-Learning: Innovation and Social Responsibility.

At the opening session of the meeting, under the motto "Service-Learning, integral education and transforming spirituality", the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, recalled that "it was to serve the communities that the universities arose. With a practical purpose for everyone".

The Grand Chancellor of UCP called for "teaching connected to society and its needs, both nationally and internationally", recalling the "complexity of the issues that universities deal with, such as climate, refugees, fundamental rights or the empowerment of international organisations, which require a greater connection between teaching and society".

Also present on this first day of activities, Bishop José Ornelas, Bishop of Setúbal and President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, highlighted the role of universities "in promoting cultural dialogue".

This event, which has more than 1000 registrants, includes multiple activities in a virtual format, with thematic panels with experts, leaders, students and participants from all over the world.

More than 30 universities and educational institutions belonging to more than 25 countries of the five continents will have, during the meeting, the opportunity to present some of their work in the field of learning and service.

 

Her first choice was Law, but the advice of her grandmother, who "knew very well that this course did not suit her granddaughter's personality", led Rita Pelágio, 21 years old, to opt for a degree in Social Work in the Faculty of Human Sciences.

It was there that the "will to help others" took shape and "opened doors to the world of volunteering in a more consistent and organised way".

A Girl Scout for over 11 years, Rita says that "this desire to have an impact on people's lives is an addiction. Once you start, it's impossible to stop doing things for those who need it most.

She doesn't know how it all started. All she knows is that "this will has always been there". Perhaps the example came from the women in her life, "her grandmother and mother were always attentive to the needs of others". Maybe that's what it was. Or simply because it's part of who she is.

 She already has a vast amount of work done in the service of the most vulnerable. Those who "often suffer in silence and without hope". This was the case in Mozambique, where she lived for two years with her parents. In that African country, she became aware that "there is so much poverty that one cannot stand still".

Through the Makobo Platform, she worked to support homeless people. She says that three times a week, the group of volunteers, of which she was a member, went out "into the street to distribute soup to those who had nothing. Not even a roof over their heads".

Such an "enriching experience that determined what came next". In Lisbon, due to its proximity to the university, she chose Santa Maria Hospital to continue making a difference. She signed up as a volunteer with the Association of Friends of Santa Maria Hospital and, after an interview, she was chosen. That was the beginning of a new phase.

"I go to the hospital twice a week". On the post-surgery ward, "the hours are spent talking to patients. Listening to people, keeping them company. I can't do more than that. Comfort is made by talking. Keeping company, but I believe that it does a lot of good to those people", she says.

When asked how she manages to have time for everything, she replies with a smile: "you have to know how to manage your tasks well in order to get everything done. You need a good capacity for organisation and I learnt that at Católica".

A "very important skill", says Rita, but it was not the only one she acquired at the University. The Social Work degree "is proving to be a wonderful surprise. Every day is an important learning experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life. That and the friendship with colleagues and teachers", she adds.

In the last year of her degree and after finishing her curricular internship in the Social Responsibility Office of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Rita says she is very "grateful to Professor Ana Oliveira for all the support she received and to Rita Paiva e Pona", the person in charge of the office, where "she learnt so much".

"I chose to do the internship in the Social Responsibility Office of the university because I want to go into the corporate area in the future," explains the student. An experience that has already given her the opportunity to participate in an international volunteering project, organized by the UCP Porto Regional Centre.

"I was last summer, working with Caritas Madrid in support of the homeless. Other students from Católica were in different actions. It was a wonderful experience. An unforgettable gift from Rita Paiva and Pona", who the student tried to repay with her commitment to the pilot project she helped to create.

"I have made my tiny mark on the volunteer programme that is to be set up. Now it's time to move on. There is so much to do," adds the young woman.

After all, as she says, "volunteering is an addiction. It's like having superpowers. We know that the little that we give can have a huge impact on someone's life and this is very powerful". So much so, that she believes "in schools and universities, one volunteer activity a year should be mandatory".

The Program Uniservitate invites all Catholic Higher Education Institutions to apply for the Uniservitate 2022 Award: "Service-Learning Experiences in Catholic Higher Education", by May 2nd.  With over €80,000 in prizes to be distributed around the world, Uniservitate aims to recognize experiences in Service-Learning that took place between January 2019 and April 2022.

This initiative seeks to promote quality Service-Learning practices carried out by Catholic Higher Education Institutions, that is, to recognize experiences that represent effective contributions to the solution of socio-environmental problems, identified and addressed in solidarity with organizations and community members. These experiences include active student participation in all phases of the project and a clear link between service and learning objectives that have specific links to the curriculum, opportunities for skill development, reflection and research.

In order to establish and strengthen the institutionalization of service-learning pedagogy, promote projects, inspire, build bridges, and network, everyone is encouraged to present and share their valuable experiences.

Applications through the following form.
 

The four campi of Universidade Católica Portuguesa gather for the first national solidarity campaign of food collection and donations, which began on November 24 and ends on December 18.

Under the motto "Catholic Solidarity - Together for a Cause", this campaign invites students, teachers and collaborators to participate in the collection of food and donations at the four campuses of the UCP or through donations made directly to partner institutions.

The institutions supported under this initiative belong to the areas of action of the Catholic, namely, Junta de Freguesia de São Domingos de Benfica - Lisbon; Refood Foz do Douro and Banco Alimentar Porto; Conferência Vicentina C.C Braga and Câmara Municipal de Viseu.

At Headquarters you can contribute by delivering non-perishable food products (rice, pasta, canned food, cookies, grain, beans, olive oil, oil, milk, ...), baby goods (NAN and Aptamil 1,2 and 3 powdered milk, disposable diapers from no. 0 to no. 6, baby hygiene products, porridge for 4 and 6 months, pacifiers and bottles, breastfeeding discs), or through a financial donation (here).
 
The collection points are the Student Associations of the various Units, the Espaço Católica Solidária (next to the Stationery in the John Paul II Library Building) or the Chaplaincy.
 
The first national solidarity campaign of the UCP comes within the framework of the Year Laudato si' and has the massive support of all the Academic Units and Student Associations of the UCP. 
 

KNOW MORE

 

The Universidad Católica Portuguesa (UCP) is extending its ‘SDG Chairs’ Strategic Initiative by opening enrolment for two new curricular units, reinforcing its commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The online classes will take place between February and May, allowing students from all UCP campuses to take part. 

Launched in 2022, the curricular unit "SDGs: Humanity's Grand Challenges" aims to promote a collective awareness of the global challenges addressed by the SDGs.

This initiative reinforces UCP's commitment to education aligned with sustainability, the United Nations' Academic Impact commitments and the Principles for Responsible Management Education.

By integrating specialised courses dedicated to different SDGs into the curricula of undergraduate students, the curricular unit offers a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges and opportunities of sustainable development.

The courses are co-created by various UCP faculties and involve a diverse group of academics who bring complementary perspectives to an innovative learning experience.

Classes are held online twice a week, allowing students from all UCP campi - Lisbon, Porto, Braga and Viseu - to take part.

This semester, two courses are available: "Humanity's Great Challenges: SDG 14 - Protecting Marine Life", taught in English, between 17 February and 13 May, and "Humanity's Great Challenges: SDG 4 - Quality Education", taught in Portuguese, between 26 February and 3 April.

UCP students interested in enrolling can contact the respective Student's Office.