Sr. Paulanne’s Thanksgiving Address to Parish, 2014
The world certainly does not understand the message of Jesus to: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
It has been a difficult year with more people cut to part time with no benefits. People have no electricity, heat or water. Social service offices continue to tell us there is no money. I have been told by “Connection for the Homeless”, that homelessness has increased 70% in our suburbs in the past year.
A woman came to me several months ago. She and her seven year old son live in the car. She has a part time job and the check for $400 was in her hand. Someone offered her a studio apartment for $600 and would hold it until evening. I told her I would pay for it because she would never have that opportunity again. Most people want first and last month’s rent and sometimes also security deposit. She works hard and struggles every day. She and her son live on $200 each month. But she says they can cook, shower and sleep in a bed.
We are the greatest nation in the world with the most resources and potential and we do NOT provide the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter to help people survive. It is certainly not a choice to eat. Mothers from our community continue to come for food, diapers, gas, because they have nothing. Senior citizens, who have worked hard, live on a very limited budget and frequently go without their medication.
The priorities in our lives need to be: God, Family, and Education!
God needs to be the center of our lives every day. We need to give strength and hope to those who have none. We need to go to Mass as family. Children need to learn how important their faith is. They learn it from good example. Our lives have little meaning without God and the faith community. We must continue to build a strong parish community through its vital ministries, including a great school and important Religious Education program. The faith community needs to be the center of our lives.
Education is key in building strong family values. Every child must develop the potential God has given them. When children are motivated and challenged, when they see good example from adults, they get it. I speak to my 7th and 8th graders about families living in their car with very little to eat. I tell them McDonald’s certificates are great to help people go into a warm place and get a warm meal. I am amazed how many students bring these certificates, frequently from their hard earned money. There are students who have a birthday party and tell their friends to give the money to the Needy Family Fund instead of buying them a birthday gift. We all like gifts, especially for our birthday. Our students are amazing and I am very grateful for their generosity to the poor.
I tell my students there are two key words for their lives -- Respect and Responsibility. Their lives will make sense when they have learned these words. Why are children beating up or killing one another? Why are they on drugs, in gangs or living on the street? 1.6 million children in our country are homeless. It is wrong. It is sin. Children do not put themselves into homelessness and they cannot get out of it! We must respond to them and give them the opportunity to move forward and help us build a better society. More money is put into drug rehab and our prison system than in housing for families and education for our children. Children certainly do not deserve to be homeless.
People who are not able to provide for their family due to job loss have a great feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. It happens to the family next door, across the street, or to me. People find it very difficult to come for help. As a faith community we need to give support, hope, to each family in need. People are afraid, embarrassed, in tears. I tell them it is not their fault. The working class is the backbone of our country and it has been crippled, due to a system that has crumbled because of corruption and greed.
We have a group of people from our parish who continue to offer their services as: lawyers, financial planners, bankers, social workers to help families make good decisions in the face of crisis. Our parish also has a great Business Networking Group who meets monthly, and is listed in the bulletin, to help people network with job opportunities.
If we see the impact of job loss in our parish and community, it is certainly much more difficult for our Sharing parishes to keep moving forward with their limited resources. It is critical that these parishes have strong faith communities and good schools which are the tools to better their communities. They cannot afford not to have them. Every person has the responsibility to change our society, one person at a time. This is the goal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which is our second collection today. The Campaign for Human Development helps end poverty one community at a time, across the country.
The Sharing Ministry has done an incredible job in so many ways, affecting many people. But it is you, the faith community of this parish, who are the incredible force behind the Sharing program -- your involvement in our parish, the Sharing parishes, inner city education, soup kitchens, shelters, Catholic Charities programs, especially their suppers in Des Plaines, bringing food weekly for those who are hungry. We certainly want to thank members of Guild 30, who have worked very hard these weeks of November, collecting food, and your great support to it. The Haiti project, Santiago Chile, and so much more, which is frequently done silently and behind the scenes. For example, the people who sort clothing in the Sharing room several days each week and people loading and unloading food and other items and taking them to places all over the city. People pick up bread and pastries every day so they do not go to waste and get them to people in need in many areas. You are changing our community, our world, to be a better place, every day! You are the unsung heroes!
May God bless each of you generously, for your dedication to our parish, for your wonderful support of our Sharing program and certainly the Needy Family Fund. You touch the ends of the earth!
Christ said: “What you do to the least of my people, you do to me”!
