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)
On Sunday (Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B) we read from the Gospel of Mark about Jesus' lesson to his disciples about humility and servant-leadership: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” In the Letter from James we hear about an age old problem: people are arguing based in their own jealousy. We are called to be peacemakers.
In Catholic Charities we too are challenged to be servants of those we serve and to be peace builders in our daily work. St. Vincent de Paul, the Patron Saint of Charitable Societies whose feast we will celebrate this Sunday, September 27, reminded those with whom he collaborated that the "poor are our masters" and that we had to be responsive to them just as we would be to Jesus himself. Besides being servants we are also called to be peacebuilders in our daily work of service, advocacy and convening. Caritas Internationalis continues to promote ideas and resources on how Catholic Charities' leaders can model peacemaking in their service delivery.
Reflection from Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate: "Love in truth — caritas in veritate — is a great challenge for the Church in a world that is becoming progressively and pervasively globalized. The risk for our time is that the de facto interdependence of people and nations is not matched by ethical interaction of consciences and minds that would give rise to truly human development. Only in charity, illumined by the light of reason and faith, is it possible to pursue development goals that possess a more humane and humanizing value. The sharing of goods and resources, from which authentic development proceeds, is not guaranteed by merely technical progress and relationships of utility, but by the potential of love that overcomes evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), opening up the path towards reciprocity of consciences and liberties." (Caritas in Veritate, par 9-1).
N.B. Note: Please consider joining our new Twitter account, CCDOY, for current updates and calls to action that we can all use.
Some important date(s) this week:
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27 St. Vincent de Paul (1580?-1660) The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent's eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.
It was the Countess de Gondi (whose servant he had helped) who persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley-slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.
Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of St. Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, "whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city." He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.
Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been "hard and repulsive, rough and cross." But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.
Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frederic Ozanam (September 7).
Sharing Hope In Tough Times: Catholic Charities Responds to Families Facing Economic Crisis
September 19-20, 2009 – Did you know that Legal Immigration Services (LIS) are available in the Diocese of Youngstown? Catholic Charities offers legal assistance recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals at its offices in Ravenna, Ashtabula and Canton. LIS provides family-based immigration assistance to those individuals who wish to obtain legal status in the United States, either for themselves or for their relatives. For more information, call Catholic Charities LIS at 330-297-7250.
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
September 2009
General: That the word of God may be better known, welcomed and lived as the source of freedom and joy.
Mission: That Christians in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, who often meet with great difficulties, may not be discourage from announcing the Gospel to their brothers, trusting in the strength of the Holy Spirit.
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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