06/02/10

St. Augustine Church Justice & Peace CARES Committee

• Bread Ministry Schedule

• HOLY THURSDAY COLLECTION FOR OUTREACH A special thank you for your generosity. We collected $957.00 to be used for Outreach. This money will be used to provide assistance to parishioners in need or others in need who live in Chesterfield County. Outreach money is used to help pay rent, utilities, medicine, etc. To apply call and make an appointment with Katharine Anderson (275-7962, Ext. 1115), part-time staff person responsible for Outreach, Justice and Peace.

  The collection taken on Holy Thursday is never supposed to be used by a parish for ordinary expenses or building projects. Catholic parishes across the country use this collection to help the poor and those in dire need either in the parish (as we are doing) or through an agency of their choice; i.e., Catholic Charities, Red Cross, Pregnancy Resource Center, etc.

• OPERATION RICE BOWL Did you remember to bring your rice bowl to church on Holy Thursday FILLED with coins and dollars? Once again, St. Augustine parishioners embraced the Lenten challenge and contributed $3500 to Catholic Relief Service by sacrificing and giving alms to the poor. As you know, Catholic Relief Services with our help serves the poor around the world. They are always in the midst of natural disasters providing relief to the people who are displaced by hurricanes, earth quakes, etc. They serve the poorest of the poor around the globe. The funds collected through Operation Rice Bowl go through our diocese to Catholic Relief Services. 25% of the total collected in the Diocese of Richmond remains in our diocese to help the poor in our midst.

  There are no words to describe our gratitude for your faithfulness and compassion during the Lenten Season. “Whatever you do for the least of your brothers and sisters you do for me.”

• BABY BOTTLE CAMPAIGN Mother’s Day 2010 was the kick-off for the Baby Bottle Campaign.. After all masses on Mother’s Day weekend, members of the Justice & Peace: CARES Committee distributed bottles. Filled bottles need to be returned no later than the weekend of June 12-13. This project will support the efforts of the Pregnancy Resource Center. The center works tirelessly to support women through their pregnancy and beyond in an attempt to quiet the consideration of abortion. Abortion is discouraged by many but, in reality there is little help for the woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy wondering how she is going to financially and emotionally take care of a baby when she is struggling to take care of herself.

• Watch the bulletin and the web site for the upcoming “Baby Shower” in October, 2010 to provide material items for newborns.

• HOPEFULLY WE’VE JUST BEGUN WHETTING YOUR APPETITE – frequent the web site more often and come to the Justice & Peace: CARES page… here’s a few things the future holds:

• LET’S START WITH A LITTLE TRIVIA
  • Who is the current J&P Committee chairperson?
  • Who is the staff person?
  • What does the acronym CCHASM stand for?
  • Who are they and what do they do?
  • How about HELP?
  • Have you ever heard of them?
  • Who are they affiliated with and what do they do?

  If you can answer all these questions correctly, a $5 Food Lion card is yours. Send responses to: katharineand@hotmail.com.  First one to respond with all the correct answers wins.  Members of staff and their families, Parish Pastoral Council members and their families and Finance Council members and their families may not play this trivia game. You know too much.

• DID YOU KNOW ABOUT ST. AUGUSTINE’S OUTREACH CENTER? It’s all very exciting. Stay tuned. You’ll get all the facts once we break ground for the new Parish Pastoral Center.

• We’ll be updating you about the following J&P Ministries in the coming weeks.
  • Adopt a Highway
  • Prison Ministry
  • CARITAS (How do we pull that week off any way?)
  • FOOD PANTRY
    • Who does the shopping?
    • Who speaks Spanish well enough to help people who don’t speak English?
    • How many people do we feed on Saturday?
    • What happens when someone just drops in?
    • When we have an Outreach Center, what will happen to the Food Pantry?

For easy access, put the St. Augustine web site address in your Favorites - www.staugustineparish.net