Catholic Charities. 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: Rooted in the Mission of the Diocese of Youngstown "to minister to the people in the six counties of northeastern Ohio . . .(and) to the world community", we are called 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. Working 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)
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On Sunday, ( Third Sunday in Ordinary Time http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012713.cfm) we read from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’ public appearance in his home town’s synagogue wherein He selects a passage from the prophet Isaiah, declaring His mission statement: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. As we read in the first reading from Nehemiah, as the Scripture -- Word -- was proclaimed, all the people bowed down in prayer and in deep respect. During that time, people were only learning about God’s promise. Now with Jesus’ presence and proclamation of the Word -- we now know that God is truly among us. We see God face to face now in the Person -- the Word -- of Jesus. In Jesus’ selection of his mission statement, we learn that Jesus has come to bring Good News and transformation.
Catholic Charities (http://www.ccdoy.org) is rooted in that mission statement of Jesus himself. We are called to help the Church organize its work of transforming persons and communities by bringing Good News through healing and justice. In the many programs and services of Catholic Charities, locally and globally, we continue to bring love and hope to many who are struggling. Our criminal justice ministries tirelessly works with many inmates and those returning to their communities post incarceration; our work with adults with memory loss help provide comfort and care for many families; our immigration ministries heal broken relationships in justice. Your continued support of Catholic Charities empowers the Church to bring that Good News to all we encounterr.
Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements
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ZE13011603 - 2013-01-16
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-36348?l=english
On Christ As Mediator Between God and Man
'Jesus [] is Truly God Among Us, 'The Mediator and the Fullness of All Revelation'"
VATICAN CITY, January 16, 2013 (Zenit.org).
Here is a translation of the General Audience Pope Benedict XVI gave in Paul VI Hall.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Second Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, says that the intimate truth of the revelation of God shines for us "in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation"(no. 2). The Old Testament tells us how God, after the creation, despite original sin, despite man's arrogance in wanting to take the place of his Creator, again offers the possibility of his friendship, especially through the covenant with Abraham and the journey of a small nation, that of Israel, whom he chooses not according to the criteria of earthly power, but simply out of love. It is a choice that remains a mystery and reveals God's style, who calls some not to exclude others, but so that those called will act as bridge leading to Him: election is always an election for the other. In the history of the people of Israel we can retrace the stages of a long journey in which God makes himself known, reveals himself, enters into history with words and actions. For this work He uses mediators, such as Moses, the Prophets, the Judges, who communicate his will to the people, they remind them of the need for fidelity to the covenant and keep alive the expectation of the full and definitive realization of the divine promises.
And it is precisely the fulfillment of these promises that we contemplated in Christmas: God's revelation reaches its peak, its fullness. In Jesus of Nazareth, God truly visits his people, he visits humanity in a way that exceeds all expectation: he sends his only begotten Son, who becomes man, God himself. Jesus does not simply tell us something about God, he does not simply talk about the Father, because he is God, and thus he reveals to us the face of God. In the Prologue of his Gospel, John writes: "No one has ever seen God: it is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known" (Jn 1:18).
I want to focus on this "revealing the face of God." In this regard, St. John, in his Gospel, relates to us a significant fact. Approaching the passion, Jesus reassures his disciples, inviting them not to be afraid and to have faith; then he initiates a dialogue with them in which he speaks of God the Father (cf. Jn 14:2-9). At one point, the apostle Philip asks Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied" (Jn 14:8). Philip is very practical and concrete: he says what we, too, want to say: “we want to see, show us the Father”; he asks to "see" the Father, to see his face. Jesus' answer is an answer not only for Philip, but also for us and leads us into the heart of the Christological faith of the Church; the Lord affirms: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). This expression contains a synthesis of the novelty of the New Testament, that novelty that appeared in the cave of Bethlehem: God can be seen, he has shown his face, he is visible in Jesus Christ.
For FULL TEXT http://www.zenit.org/article-36348?l=english
Some important date(s) this week:
See website http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.
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JANUARY 28. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.
At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239 he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.
By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.
Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.
His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.
The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.
For Daily Readings http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
CHARITIES NEWSBYTES
January is National Poverty Awareness Month. http://usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/povertyusa/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=77454
PAPAL INTENTIONS: JANUARY 2013
The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Middle Eastern Christians.
That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated
against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and
perseverance.
FEBRUARY
Migrant Families. That migrant families, especially the mothers, may be supported and accompanied in their difficulties.
Peace. That the peoples at war and in conflict may lead the way in building a peaceful future.
Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
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for current updates and calls to action that we can all use.
See our website at http://www.ccdoy.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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