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)


On Sunday (Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092511.cfm we read in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus’ parable about a man who asked his two sons to assist him in his work. One son said “no” but then changed his mind and helped; the other son said “yes” but did not deliver on his promise. The disciples agree that the first son actually did the will of their father. So too we are reminded that God’s abundant love welcomes anyone and all who change their mind and live according to the Gospel. We hear how we should live in St. Paul’s letter to the Philipians: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.” This is followed by the great liturgical hymn of calling us to be like Christ, as he humbled himself and took on human form.

In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org/ , we are called to put on the attitude of Christ Jesus: serving others witnessing to God’s abundant love. We work with many people that “society” does not see as “deserving” or “proper” -- yet we see each person in God’s light: an image of God. We are called to go out of our way at times to bring healing and hope to a family in crisis and despair: from visiting an immigrant without family in the hospital, to helping an ex-felon to find a job. God’s love compels us to serve others as Christ serves us.



Reflection from Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical, Caritas in Veritate

Development needs Christians with their arms raised towards God in prayer, Christians moved by the knowledge that truth-filled love, caritas in veritate, from which authentic development proceeds, is not produced by us, but given to us. For this reason, even in the most difficult and complex times, besides recognizing what is happening, we must above all else turn to God's love. Development requires attention to the spiritual life, a serious consideration of the experiences of trust in God, spiritual fellowship in Christ, reliance upon God's providence and mercy, love and forgiveness, self-denial, acceptance of others, justice and peace. All this is essential if “hearts of stone” are to be transformed into “hearts of flesh” (Ezek 36:26), rendering life on earth “divine” and thus more worthy of humanity. All this is of man, because man is the subject of his own existence; and at the same time it is of God, because God is at the beginning and end of all that is good, all that leads to salvation: “the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's” (1 Cor 3:22-23). Christians long for the entire human family to call upon God as “Our Father!” In union with the only-begotten Son, may all people learn to pray to the Father and to ask him, in the words that Jesus himself taught us, for the grace to glorify him by living according to his will, to receive the daily bread that we need, to be understanding and generous towards our debtors, not to be tempted beyond our limits, and to be delivered from evil (cf. Mt 6:9-13).

At the conclusion of the Pauline Year, I gladly express this hope in the Apostle's own words, taken from the Letter to the Romans: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honour” (Rom 12:9-10). May the Virgin Mary — proclaimed Mater Ecclesiae by Paul VI and honoured by Christians as Speculum Iustitiae and Regina Pacis — protect us and obtain for us, through her heavenly intercession, the strength, hope and joy necessary to continue to dedicate ourselves with generosity to the task of bringing about the “development of the whole man and of all men”.  (par. 79 and Conclusion)

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.htm



Some important date(s) this week:

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/ByDate.aspx

See website for biographies of Saints and Blessed celebrated this week.



TUESDAY 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 Frédéric Ozanam (September 7).



SHARING HOPE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES.

Next weekend we will be wrapping up our First Step for Change campaign. Please remember to bring your filled baby bottles with you and turn them in at Mass next weekend. Funds collected will assist low-income, pregnant women and/or families with food, formula, clothing, diapers and other items essential to a child’s health, safety and well-being.  

PAPAL INTENTIONS:

September 2011

General Intention: That all teachers may know how to communicate love of the truth and instill authentic moral and spiritual values.

Missionary Intention: That the Christian communities of Asia may proclaim the Gospel with fervor, witnessing to its beauty with the joy of faith.


October 2011

General Intention: That the terminally ill may be supported by their faith in God and the love of their brothers and sisters.

Missionary Intention: That the celebration of World Mission Day may foster in the People of God a passion for evangelization with the willingness to support the missions with prayer and economic aid for the poorest Churches.




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

Note: Please consider joining our

FACEBOOK CAUSE http://apps.facebook.com/causes/106889

FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Charities-Diocese-of-Youngstown/138817639487339

TWITTER account, CCDOY, http://twitter.com/CCDOY

for current updates and calls to action that we can all use.



See our website at http://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/