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, (Pentecost Sunday http://usccb.org/bible/readings/051913-pentecost-mass-during-day.cfm) we
read from the Gospel of John about the Presence and Power of Jesus as
He breathed “peace” on them, calming them of their fears and
awkwardness. Jesus also promises His disciples the sending of the
“Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, (who)
will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” This
Holy Spirit, that we celebrate today on the Feast of Pentecost, provides
gifts and fruits (http://thecatholicspirit.com/faith/the-lesson-plan/gifts-and-fruits-of-the-holy-spirit/)
of the love of Father and Son. The 7 gifts of the Spirit are:
wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge, fear of the
Lord (Is 11:2), and piety. The 12 traditional fruits of the Holy Spirit are: charity,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, humility or
gentleness, fidelity or faithfulness, modesty, continence or
self-control and chastity. These gifts and fruits of the Spirit are
celebrated in music with an ancient hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnfv1LUMaBA .
Catholic Charities (http://www.ccdoy.org)
continues to live out, through the gifts of the Spirit, and be a
witness to those fruits of the Holy Spirit. One of the key fruits is
“charity.” In Catholic Charities, we are call to help “organize love”
providing assistance to those in need by creating structures of
solidarity and love between those who have and those who are in need.
The other fruit of “patience” marks Catholic Charities’ staff and
volunteers who work tirelessly with persons and families who are
struggling and sometimes come to us as a last resort. One other fruit,
“kindness,” further sets Catholic Charities apart. Our staff,
volunteers and donors all display that kindness by sharing that love of
God with each person and family we encounter. Thanks to your generous
support to the Annual Bishop’s Appeal for Catholic Charities and Church (http://www.doy.org)
we continue to witness to these fruits of the Holy Spirit by empowering
us, together, to assist struggling persons, families and communities
find that peace and joy promised by Jesus Himself.
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
http://cmsimg.news-press.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=A4&Date=20130315&Category=OPINION&ArtNo=303150023&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Editorial-Pope-Francis-unique-chance
Pope Francis: On the Blessed Trinity
Vatican City, 8 May 2013
Here
is the translation of the Holy Father’s weekly General Audience address
in St. Peter’s Square where he continued the cycle of catechesis
dedicated to the Year of Faith.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good
morning! The Easter season that we are living with joy, guided by the
Church's liturgy, is par excellence the time of the Holy Spirit, given
"without measure" (cf. Jn 3:34) by Jesus, crucified and risen. This time
of grace ends with the feast of Pentecost, in which the Church relives
the outpouring of the Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles gathered in
prayer in the Cenacle.
But
who is the Holy Spirit? In the Creed we profess with faith: "I believe
in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life". The first truth to
which we adhere in the Creed is that the Holy Spirit is Kýrios, Lord.
This means that he is truly God, as the Father and Son are, the object,
for our part, of the same act of adoration and glorification that we
address to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the third person
of the Blessed Trinity; he is the great gift of the risen Christ that
opens our minds and our hearts to faith in Jesus as the Son sent by the
Father and that leads us to friendship, to communion with God.
But
I would like to dwell in particular on the fact that the Holy Spirit is
the inexhaustible source of the life of God in us. Men of all times and
all places want a life that is full and beautiful, just and good, a
life that is not threatened by death, but that can mature and grow to
its fullness. Man is like a wanderer who, crossing the deserts of life,
thirsts for a living water, gushing and fresh, able to quench deeply his
profound desire for light, love, beauty and peace. We all feel this
desire! And Jesus gives us this living water: it is the Holy Spirit, who
proceeds from the Father, and that Jesus pours out into our hearts. "I
came that they might have life and have it in abundance», Jesus tells us
(Jn 10:10).
Jesus
promises the Samaritan woman that he will give a "living water",
superabundantly and forever, to all those who recognize him as the Son
sent by the Father to save us (cf. Jn 4:5-26, 3:17). Jesus came to give
us this "living water" that is the Holy Spirit, so that our life may be
guided by God, animated by God, and nourished by God. When we say that
the Christian is a spiritual man, we mean just that: a Christian is a
person who thinks and acts according to God, according to the Holy
Spirit. But I ask: and we, do we think according to God? Do we act
according to God? Or do we let ourselves be guided by so many other
things that are not exactly God? Each one must answer this in the depths
of his heart.
At
this point we can ask ourselves: why is it that this water can slake
the very depths of our thirst? We know that water is essential for life;
without water you die; it quenches thirst, washes, makes the land
fertile. In the Letter to the Romans we find this expression: "God's
love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has
been given to us" (5:5). The "living water", the Holy Spirit, the gift
of the risen Lord who makes its home in us, purifies us, enlightens us,
renews us, transforms us because it makes us partakers of the very life
of God who is Love. For this reason, the Apostle Paul says that the
Christian life is animated by the Spirit and its fruits, which are
"love, joy, peace, generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit inserts us into
the divine life as "sons in the Only-begotten Son". In another passage
of the Epistle to the Romans, which we have mentioned several times, St.
Paul summarises it with these words: "all those who are led by the
spirit of God, are sons of God. And you... have received the Spirit that
makes us adoptive children, whereby we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit
itself, together with our spirit, attests that we are children of God.
And if we are children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, joint-heirs
with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order to
participate in his glory» (8:14-17). This is the precious gift that the
Holy Spirit places in our hearts: the very life of God, life as true
sons, a relationship of confidence, freedom and trust in the love and
mercy of God, which has as an effect also a new gaze towards others,
near and far, always seen as brothers and sisters in Jesus to be
respected and loved. The Holy Spirit teaches us to look with the eyes of
Christ, to live life as Christ lived it, to understand life as Christ
understood it. That's why the living water that is the Holy Spirit
quenches the thirst of our lives, because it tells us that we are loved
by God as children, that we can love God as his children and by his
grace we can live as children of God, like Jesus. And we, we listen to
the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit tell us? God loves you. It
tells us this. God loves you, He desires your good. Do we really love
God and others, like Jesus does? Let us allow ourselves to be guided by
the Holy Spirit, let us allow Him to speak to our hearts and tell us
this: that God is love, that He is waiting for us, that God is the
Father, he loves us as a true Father [Papà], he truly loves us and only
the Holy Spirit alone says this to our hearts. Let us hear the Holy
Spirit, let us listen to the Holy Spirit and let us go forward on this
road of love, of mercy and of forgiveness. Thank you.
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.
SUNDAY, MAY 19. Celebration of Covenant and Mission Solidarity projects in the Diocese of Youngstown. St Columba Cathedral. 10:30 AM. The
Diocesan Offices of Catholic Relief Services and Propagation of the
Faith/Missions will celebrate and honor the various parish projects
engaged in international mission solidarity projects.
Saturday, May 25. St. Bede the Venerable (672?-735).
Bede
is one of the few saints honored as such even during his lifetime. His
writings were filled with such faith and learning that even while he was
still alive, a Church council ordered them to be read publicly in the
churches.
At
an early age Bede was entrusted to the care of the abbot of the
Monastery of St. Paul, Jarrow. The happy combination of genius and the
instruction of scholarly, saintly monks produced a saint and an
extraordinary scholar, perhaps the most outstanding one of his day. He
was deeply versed in all the sciences of his times: natural philosophy,
the philosophical principles of Aristotle, astronomy, arithmetic,
grammar, ecclesiastical history, the lives of the saints and,
especially, Holy Scripture.
From
the time of his ordination to the priesthood at 30 (he had been
ordained deacon at 19) till his death, he was ever occupied with
learning, writing and teaching. Besides the many books that he copied,
he composed 45 of his own, including 30 commentaries on books of the
Bible.
Although
eagerly sought by kings and other notables, even Pope Sergius, Bede
managed to remain in his own monastery till his death. Only once did he
leave for a few months in order to teach in the school of the archbishop
of York. Bede died in 735 praying his favorite prayer: “Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so
now, and forever.”
His Ecclesiastical History of the English People
is commonly regarded as of decisive importance in the art and science
of writing history. A unique era was coming to an end at the time of
Bede’s death: It had fulfilled its purpose of preparing Western
Christianity to assimilate the non-Roman barbarian North. Bede
recognized the opening to a new day in the life of the Church even as it
was happening.
For Daily Readings http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
CHARITIES NEWSBYTES
Please continue to help us fill Harriet’s Cupboard!
http://ccdoy.org/slider/please-continue-to-fill/
Catholic
Charities Regional Agency is asking you to continue to help fill
Harriet’s Cupboard. We have had several donations since this program
launched in January. Your generosity is amazing and greatly
appreciated.
2013 Annual Bishop’s Appeal for Catholic Charities and Church.
The
in Church/parish appeal is now underway. Please consider a gift to
help support the work of Catholic Charities and other ministries of the
Diocese of Youngstown https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=450afc
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
MAY 2013
Administrators of Justice. That administrators of justice may act always with integrity and right conscience.
Seminaries.
That seminaries, especially those of mission churches, may form pastors
after the Heart of Christ, fully dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel.
Corporal Works of Mercy: The seven practices of charity toward our neighbor
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Note: Please consider joining our
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.
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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