Wednesday, August 22, 2018

A Sign of Hope IV

     As I bring this short series of posts to a close, I would like to focus a little on the outstanding work that the diocese and our parishes do in ministering to the people of this area.

     Faith is a gift given to us by God.  Our mission is to share that faith.  We do so in living out and proclaiming the message of the Gospel and by worshiping the Lord and being a strong community of believers.  We do so by sharing our time, talent and treasure with communities both local and international.  We help meet the spiritual and material needs of the poor throughout the world.

     Service organizations like the St. Vincent de Paul Society with their volunteers and stores, the Knights of Columbus, the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, the Scouting programs, parish food pantries and food banks are just a few.  We visit the sick, the homebound and those in prison.  

    And our Catholic Charities reaches to all four counties of the Diocese in providing counseling and assistance on numerous levels. Charities answers nearly 20,000 call yearly; has distributed $1.27 million in direct material assistance to folks in the last 19 years through their annual fundraiser - the Salt & Light Dinner; helped 66 families last year with furnace and hot water heaters after weather disasters to the amount of $200,000.  Charities helps 1,000 families a year with utility bills and distributed $400,000 from the Poverty Relief Fund since 2009.  This is just from Catholic Charities ... parishes and parish groups do much more in their local communities.

     The Church is more than her failures, more than that described in the Grand Jury Report in all of its revulsion, more than what is found in the justifiable anger and hurt coming from the victims of abuse, more than the sense of betrayal and confusion found in so many of the faithful.  The Church is founded by Jesus Christ who pledged that he will remain with us always, gracing us with healing and love in the darkest moments and strengthening us with hope and love so that we may renew, rebuild and refresh the Church on our journey to holiness.  It is this vision of Church that is our Sign of Hope.

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