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, ( First Sunday in Lent http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021713.cfm) we read from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’ encounter with the devil in the desert. Three temptations present Jesus with options; in each encounter Jesus stays on mission for His Father; God’s will be done, not His or anyone else’s will. Jesus confronts self centered power, glory and adoration with His continued ministry of helping each of us know and love God and our neighbor. Jesus just returned from His experience of baptism, filled with joy, hope and love. Jesus models for each us, especially during this Lenten season, to reflect on how we live our own lives in accordance with God’s will. Oftentimes, many of our simple actions and decisions mean much; Lent is a time to reflect, pray, be educated, give alms, and find a new way of being and acting.
Catholic Charities (http://www.ccdoy.org) aims to help each of us personally and communally to find ways to respond to the needs and concerns of our neighbors locally and globally. With our partner Catholic Relief Services (CRS) we help to organize love around the world and in each neighborhood. One of the interesting CRS related projects I visited while in the Holy Land with some representatives from Catholic Charities USA (O’Grady Institute) was the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative http://www.hlhcs.org/ This cooperative, located near the Shepherds Fields in the holy city of Bethlehem, works with many local Palestinian artisans to produce and sell fair traded goods. Their cooperative supports many low income families. During this Lenten Season, you might want to think about how we spend our consumer purchasing power, and find a way to support a cooperative like the Holy Land Handicraft Cooperative or other CRS fair traded goods (www.crsfairtrade.org).
Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/new-evangelization/year-of-faith/images/year-of-faith-logo-montage.jpg
Pope Benedict XVI’s Lenten Message
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-benedict-xvi-s-lenten-message
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.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22. Chair of St. Peter
This feast commemorates Christ’s choosing Peter to sit in his place as the servant-authority of the whole Church (see June 29).
After the “lost weekend” of pain, doubt and self-torment, Peter hears the Good News. Angels at the tomb say to Magdalene, “The Lord has risen! Go, tell his disciples and Peter.” John relates that when he and Peter ran to the tomb, the younger outraced the older, then waited for him. Peter entered, saw the wrappings on the ground, the headpiece rolled up in a place by itself. John saw and believed. But he adds a reminder: “...[T]hey did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:9). They went home. There the slowly exploding, impossible idea became reality. Jesus appeared to them as they waited fearfully behind locked doors. “Peace be with you,” he said (John 20:21b), and they rejoiced.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/pictures/2_22_chair_peter.jpg
The Pentecost event completed Peter’s experience of the risen Christ. “...[T]hey were all filled with the holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4a) and began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them.
Only then can Peter fulfill the task Jesus had given him: “... [O]nce you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). He at once becomes the spokesman for the Twelve about their experience of the Holy Spirit—before the civil authorities who wished to quash their preaching, before the council of Jerusalem, for the community in the problem of Ananias and Sapphira. He is the first to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. The healing power of Jesus in him is well attested: the raising of Tabitha from the dead, the cure of the crippled beggar. People carry the sick into the streets so that when Peter passed his shadow might fall on them.
Even a saint experiences difficulty in Christian living. When Peter stopped eating with Gentile converts because he did not want to wound the sensibilities of Jewish Christians, Paul says, “...I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.... [T]hey were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel...” (Galatians 2:11b, 14a).
At the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus says to Peter, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). What Jesus said indicated the sort of death by which Peter was to glorify God. On Vatican Hill, in Rome, during the reign of Nero, Peter did glorify his Lord with a martyr’s death, probably in the company of many Christians.
Second-century Christians built a small memorial over his burial spot. In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine built a basilica, which was replaced in the 16th century.
For Daily Readings http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
CHARITIES NEWSBYTES
CRS Rice Bowl brings Lent to life.
http://www.crsricebowl.org/
CRS
Rice Bowl is a Lenten faith formation program that helps us to live in
solidarity with the poor and vulnerable around the world.
We pray to reflect on what type of person we are called to be.
We fast to remove the things that get between us and God, and to remember those without enough to eat.
We give to honor Jesus’ call to serve those in need.
Twenty
five percent of the Rice Bowl collection remain in the Diocese to fund
Catholic Charities and various parish efforts to feed the hungry.
Seventy five percent goes to CRS for their work in global food
security.
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
FEBRUARY 2013
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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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.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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