Providing Help. Creating Hope.
VISION: Believing in the presence of God in our midst, we proclaim the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the person by sharing in the mission of Jesus given to the Church. To this end, Catholic Charities works with individuals, families, and communities to help them meet their needs, address their issues, eliminate oppression, and build a just and compassionate society.
MISSION: To provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire Church and other people of good will to do the same.
GOALS: Catholic Charities is devoted to helping meet basic human needs, strengthening families, building communities and empowering low-income people. Committed to work to reduce poverty in half by 2020.
KEY VALUE: Hospitality
WHAT WE DO: Organizing Love. "As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community" (Deus Caritas Est, par. 20)
On Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Advent, B Cycle) we read about Mary's visit from Gabriel in Luke's gospel awaiting her reply to God's request to bring forth the Good News: bearing Emmanuel. For Israel, the Ark contained the Word of God; now Mary carried the WORD itself. Mary said "Yes" to the Angel..."let it be done to me according to your Word." The angel reminds Mary that "nothing is impossible with God."
In Catholic Charities, we bring the Good News to the poor with each encounter. We are witnesses to hope and love. We witness to the reality that with God, nothing is impossible. We bring the love of God to life by our very work and service. The Incarnation celebrates the great "Yes" of Mary to bring the Good News to birth. We are called also to say "Yes" to God by sharing that love -- incarnated by our personal work and organized through our institutions.
Some important date(s) this week:
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 24. Adam. First human being. Lived in the Garden of Eden until expelled by God. Married to Eve. Father of Cain, Abel,Seth and other children. Old Testament Patriarch.
Eve. First woman. Married to Adam. Mother of Cain, Abel and Seth.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25. Feast of the Nativity. Name derived from Old English: Cristes Maesse, Christ’s Mass. Celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Our Lord. In the earliest days of the Church there was no such feast; the Saviour’s birth was commemorated with the Epiphany by the Greek and other Eastern Churches. First mention of the feast, then kept on 20 May, was made by Clement of Alexandria c.200. The Latin Church began c.300 to observe it on 25 December, though there is no certainty that Our Lord was born on that day. This was originally reserved to the pope alone; beginning about the 4th century he celebrated a midnight Mass in the Lateran Basilica (in which according to tradition, the manger of Bethlehem is preserved), a second in the church of Saint Anastasia, whose feast comes on 25 December, and a third at the Vatican Basilica. Many peculiar customs of the day are the outcome of the pagan celebrations of the January calends. The Christmas tree, of which the first known mention was made in 1605 at Strasbourg, was introduced into France and England in 1840. The feast is a holy day of obligation, preceded by the preparatory season of Advent and by a special vigil.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26. Stephen the Deacon. First Christian martyr. Deacon. Preacher. All we know of him is related in the Acts of the Apostles. While preachingthe Gospel in the streets, angry Jews who believed his message to be blasphemy dragged him outside the city, and stoned him to death. In the crowd, on the side of the mob, was a man who would later be known as SaintPaul the Apostle.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27. St John the Apostle. Son of Zebedee and Salome. Fisherman. Brother of Saint James the Great, and called one of the Sons of Thunder. Disciple of Saint John the Baptist. Friend of Saint Peter the Apostle. Called by Jesus during the first year of His ministry, and traveled everywhere with Him, becoming so close as to be known as the beloved disciple. Took part in the Last Supper. The only one of the Twelve not to forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion, standing at the foot of the cross. Made guardian of Our Lady by Jesus, he took her into his home. Upon hearing of the Resurrection, he was the first to reach the tomb; when he met the risen Lord at the lake of Tiberias, he was the first to recognize Him. During the era of the new Church, he worked in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. During Jesus' ministry, he tried to block a Samaritan from their group, but Jesus explained the open nature of the new Way, and he worked on that principle to found churches in Asia Minor and baptizing converts in Samaria. Imprisoned with Peter for preaching after Pentecost. Wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and possibly the Book of Revelation. Survived all his fellow apostles.
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
DECEMBER 2008
General:
That in the face of a spreading of a culture of violence and death the Church through her apostolic and missionary activity may promote with courage the culture of life.
Mission:
That especially in mission countries Christians may show with acts of fraternal love that the Child born in the stable at Bethlehem is the luminous Hope of the world.
Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Visit the sick
Visit those in prison
Bury the dead
See our website at www.catholiccharitiesyoungstown.org for links to the our ministries and services.
For more information on Catholic Social Doctrine and its connection to our ministries, visit my blog at: http://corbinchurchthinking.blogspot.com/
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