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 (4th Sunday of Lent Cycle B) we read in the Gospel of John that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world . . ." It is the message of God's love for the world universal and for each one of us individually that is the keen insight of the Good News. Nicodemus -- a member of the Pharisee class -- may have held that only certain persons would be saved by God. Jesus gives him a new insight: the Good News of the love of God for each.
In Catholic Charities we daily bring Good News to life with each person served; we welcome people to hear their stories, share their struggles and find ways to serve and advocate on their behalf. We know that since each person is made in God's image and that each person shares in the love of God, we welcome everyone to our door. No judgement needed. All are welcome.
N.B. This Friday March 27 marks the final day of work for Sister Edwardine Baznik, SJSM, as the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Stark County. Sister Edwardine provided wonderful leadership since 2001 in that role, serving as director of Adult Day Services for several years prior to her appointment as the Executive Director. Her contributions to Catholic Charities will be remembered forever and her daily presence will be greatly missed. But we know that Sister Edwardine will always be with us: we know she will be busy providing leadership to her religious community, the Sisters of St. Joseph St Mark, and providing care, comfort and hope to the many residents of St. Joseph Care Center in Louisville, OH. Thanks Sister Edwardine for everything!!! You will always remain in our prayers.
Some important date(s) this week:
Daily Lenten Resources can be found at:
US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Charities USA
Wednesday, March 25. Annunciation of the Lord. The feast of the Annunciation goes back to the fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of us. From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
Mary has an important role to play in God’s plan. From all eternity God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of the world. We could say that God’s decrees of creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. As Mary is God’s instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption. It is a God-given role. It is God’s grace from beginning to end. Mary becomes the eminent figure she is only by God’s grace. She is the empty space where God could act. Everything she is she owes to the Trinity.
She is the virgin-mother who fulfills Isaiah 7:14 in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is united with her son in carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:8-9; Hebrews 10:7-9; Luke 1:38).
Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She received into her lowliness the infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us.
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
March 2009
General: That the role of women may be more appreciated and used to good advantage in every country in the world.
Mission: That in the light of the letter addressed to them by Pope Benedict XVI, the Bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and lay faithful of the Catholic Church in the Popular Republic of China may commit themselves to being the sign and instrument of unity, communion and peace.
Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the homeless
5. Visit the sick
6. Visit those in prison
7. 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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