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, ( Fourth Sunday in Lent http://usccb.org/bible/readings/031013-fourth-sunday-of-lent.cfm) we read from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’ story of the welcoming father, who ran to embrace his wayward son. The story of the prodigal son may in fact really be about the power of a love of a parent, who can’t wait to see their child return. A son asks for his inheritance, prematurely, and squanders it. The son realizes the wrong done and humbly returns to his home. Meanwhile, his anxious father waits, and upon seeing him approach “ran” to him, interrupts his well rehearsed apology, and lavishes him with love. Of course, an older sibling can’t believe it; but that same father reminds him of his constant love and embrace. So too we need to love each other.
Catholic Charities (http://www.ccdoy.org) oftentimes is the place where persons and families come, ready with a well rehearsed story, hoping for assistance and support. We certainly listen to their stories of good times and rough moments, but we know one thing: all are welcome with love. We know that oftentimes persons and families may have made a bad choice; but who can honestly say that they have never done something that was not in their best interests or may have hurt another. With this in mind, Jesus gives us a story today: like His Father, always open to our return, we too must be welcoming to all who call upon us for help and assistance. Even we ourselves as Catholic Charities do not always do the best we can do; but with our limited resources we always try to do what we can with a spirit of love and compassion. Thanks for your constant support to the Annual Bishop’s Appeal for Catholic Charities and Church (http://www.doy.org) we give persons, families and communities hope that they too will find comfort in God’s embrace.
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
Benedict XVI’s Lenten Message
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-benedict-xvi-s-lenten-message
Pope's Final General Audience Address
"I am not abandoning the cross, but remain in a new way with the Crucified Lord"
Here is the translation of the address Pope Benedict gave during the general audience, the last of his pontificate, held February 27, 2013 in St. Peter's Square.http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-final-general-audience-address
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 MARCH 15. St. Louise de Marillac
(d. 1660)
Louise, born near Meux, France, lost her mother when she was still a child, her beloved father when she was but 15. Her desire to become a nun was discouraged by her confessor, and a marriage was arranged. One son was born of this union. But she soon found herself nursing her beloved husband through a long illness that finally led to his death.
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Louise was fortunate to have a wise and sympathetic counselor, St. Francis de Sales, and then his friend, the Bishop of Belley, France. Both of these men were available to her only periodically. But from an interior illumination she understood that she was to undertake a great work under the guidance of another person she had not yet met. This was the holy priest M. Vincent, later to be known as St. Vincent de Paul.
At first he was reluctant to be her confessor, busy as he was with his "Confraternities of Charity." Members were aristocratic ladies of charity who were helping him nurse the poor and look after neglected children, a real need of the day. But the ladies were busy with many of their own concerns and duties. His work needed many more helpers, especially ones who were peasants themselves and therefore close to the poor and could win their hearts. He also needed someone who could teach them and organize them.
Only over a long period of time, as Vincent de Paul became more acquainted with Louise, did he come to realize that she was the answer to his prayers. She was intelligent, self-effacing and had physical strength and endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. The missions he sent her on eventually led to four simple young women joining her. Her rented home in Paris became the training center for those accepted for the service of the sick and poor. Growth was rapid and soon there was need of a so-called rule of life, which Louise herself, under the guidance of Vincent, drew up for the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (though he preferred "Daughters" of Charity).
He had always been slow and prudent in his dealings with Louise and the new group. He said that he had never had any idea of starting a new community, that it was God who did everything. "Your convent," he said, "will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital." Their dress was to be that of the peasant women. It was not until years later that Vincent de Paul would finally permit four of the women to take annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It was still more years before the company would be formally approved by Rome and placed under the direction of Vincent's own congregation of priests.
Many of the young women were illiterate and it was with reluctance that the new community undertook the care of neglected children. Louise was busy helping wherever needed despite her poor health. She traveled throughout France, establishing her community members in hospitals, orphanages and other institutions. At her death on March 15, 1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France. Six months later St. Vincent de Paul followed her in death.
Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.
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:
MARCH 2013
Respect for Nature. That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God's work entrusted to human responsibility.Clergy. That bishops, priests, and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
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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