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)
http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/ascension_art/ascension_lord_russian_icon.jpg
On
Sunday, (SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052012-ascension-of-the-lord.cfm) we
read from the Gospel of Mark about Jesus’ final commission to go into
the world and tell the Good News. Jesus promises us His Spirit, the
Advocate, to strengthen us on own journey for discipleship. Jesus is
taken from them into heaven; but the Apostles are not afraid. Rather,
experiencing the love of God, they enter into the world preaching,
celebrating and serving/healing others in Jesus’ name.
In Catholic Charities http://www.ccdoy.org , we continue to heal/serve in Jesus’ name. We engage in the world, empowered by the Spirit of God, knowing that we simultaneously work for justice as we help to care for the immediate needs of our brothers and sisters. In Catholic Charities, we are never alone; we know that as Jesus’ love compels and supports our work, that God’s grace will continue to bless our work.. As a ministry of the Church providing services and advocacy, we witness Good News each day as persons, families and communities continue to grow and thrive. All they needed was some tender compassion and a helpful hand. Good News indeed.
Reflection from Church Documents and Official Statements
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship - Introductory Note
The Catholic Bishops of the United States are pleased to re-propose to our people Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, our teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics. This statement, overwhelmingly adopted by the body of bishops in 2007, represents the continuing teaching of our Bishops’ Conference and our guidance for Catholics in the exercise of their rights and duties as participants in our democracy. We urge our Catholic pastors and people to continue to use this important statement to help them form their consciences, to contribute to civil and respectful public dialogue, and to shape their choices in the coming election in the light of Catholic teaching.
The statement lifts up our dual heritage as both faithful Catholics and American citizens. We are members of a community of faith with a long tradition of teaching and action on human life, and dignity, marriage and family, justice and peace, care for creation, and the common good. As Americans, we are also blessed with religious liberty which safeguards our right to bring our principles and moral convictions into the public arena. These Constitutional freedoms need to be both exercised and protected, as some seek to mute the voices or limit the freedoms of religious believers and religious institutions. Catholics have the same rights and duties as others to participate fully in public life. The Church through its institutions must be free to carry out its mission and contribute to the common good without being pressured to sacrifice fundamental teachings and moral principles.
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship is widely used to share Catholic teaching on the role of faith and conscience in political life. Although it has at times been misused to present an incomplete or distorted view of the demands of faith in politics, this statement remains a faithful and challenging call to discipleship in the world of politics. It does not offer a voters guide, scorecard of issues, or direction on how to vote. It applies Catholic moral principles to a range of important issues and warns against misguided appeals to "conscience" to ignore fundamental moral claims, to reduce Catholic moral concerns to one or two matters, or to justify choices simply to advance partisan, ideological, or personal interests. It does not offer a quantitative listing of issues for equal consideration, but outlines and makes important distinctions among moral issues acknowledging that some involve the clear obligation to oppose intrinsic evils which can never be justified and that others require action to pursue justice and promote the common good. In short, it calls Catholics to form their consciences in the light of their Catholic faith and to bring our moral principles to the debate and decisions about candidates and issues.
The moral and human challenges outlined in the second half of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship remain pressing national issues. In particular, our Conference is focused on several current and fundamental problems, some involving opposition to intrinsic evils and others raising serious moral questions:
- Continuing destruction of unborn children through abortion and other threats to the lives and dignity of others who are vulnerable, sick, or unwanted;
- Renewed efforts to force Catholic ministries—in health care, education, and social services—to violate their consciences or stop serving those in need;
- Intensifying efforts to redefine marriage and enact measures which undermine marriage as the permanent, faithful, and fruitful union of one man and one woman and a fundamental moral and social institution essential to the common good;
- An economic crisis which has devastated lives and livelihoods, increasing national and global unemployment, poverty, and hunger; increasing deficits and debt and the duty to respond in ways which protect those who are poor and vulnerable as well as future generations;
- The failure to repair a broken immigration system with comprehensive measures that promote true respect for law, protect the human rights and dignity of immigrants and refugees, recognize their contributions to our nation, keep families together, and advance the common good;
- Wars, terror, and violence which raise serious moral questions on the use of force and its human and moral costs in a dangerous world, particularly the absence of justice, security, and peace in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.
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.
http://www.usccb.org/images/USCCB.gif
For Daily Readings http://www.usccb.org/calendar/index.cfm?showLit=1&action=month
CHARITIES NEWSBYTES
Read Bishop Murry’s Pastoral Letter on Poverty. http://doy.org/files/Scroller/PastoralPoverty.pdf
Ask yourself as you deepen your faith during these 50 days of Easter : Who Is My Neighbor? How can I help?
Catholic
Charities Social Action office is sponsoring a class in Christian Moral
Living for the Office of Religious Education Formation program. The
class is on Crime, Justice and the Death Penalty. This class meets
every Tuesday from April 24 til June 12 from 7 to 9m at the Ursuline
Educational Center in Canfield. Contact Joe Miles jmiles@youngstowndiocese.org for more information.
PAPAL INTENTIONS:
May 2012
General Intention: The Family. That initiatives which defend and uphold the role of the family may be promoted within society. .
Missionary Intention:
Mary, Guide of Missionaries. That Mary, Queen of the World and Star of
Evangelization, may accompany all missionaries in proclaiming her Son
Jesus.
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 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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