Busy at work, overwhelmed with the children, the family and everything else in the world? Finding it difficult to carve out a few minutes each week for yourself, no less to “get involved” in helping another—even though you want to and know you should? Let Saint Catherine of Siena help you with this conundrum.

Again this year our parish will hold our Advent Giving Tree Ministry (AGTM) collection from December 1st to January 6, with the hope of enabling everyone in our parish to take on the persona of Christ and help someone out who is really suffering.

The AGTM offers each of us an opportunity to make a donation of any size to one or both causes which our parish supports—The Knights of Malta Mobile House of Care or our parish’s Neighbors In Need fund. Christmas trees will be decorated with envelopes with which to enclose a financial donation and make your choice known to which organization you direct your donation. Our parish will then help fund the Knights of Malta or the Neighbors in Need fund.

What do these charities do?

• Malta House of Care: under the aegis of the Knights and Dames of Mata, a Catholic organiza-tion which was originally established in 1085 as a community of monks responsible for looking after the sick at the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem. Pope Paschal II who issued a Papal Bull in 1113 es-tablishing the first Maltese Hospital. Today, the Malta House of Care here in Hartford provides traveling medical centers in a Winnebago-like ve-hicle where doctors and nurses and other medical professionals diagnosis and treat patients, provid-ing ongoing medical care, medicines, x-rays and more intense medical testing through Saint Francis Hospital and individual doctors’ offices. The idea for Malta House of Care began in 2004, when a group of Hartford-area Knights and Dames of Malta agreed that the mission of their international organization–to serve the sick and poor–called them to do more than just talk; they felt they needed to take action to address the striking dispari-ties in health care access and quality in the Greater Hartford region. Together with Saint Francis Hospi-tal, other committed community leaders, and with crucial financial support from then-Archbishop Henry Mansell and the Archdiocese of Hartford, the group determined that a mobile clinic was the correct model for Hartford; this way, critically needed primary health care would be delivered right into the neigh-borhoods where it was needed most, on a van that would be parked at trusted, safe sites close to the pa-tients’ homes and jobs. Malta House of Care has treat-ed thousands of patients in the greater Hartford. Mata’s medical care is free of charge to the poor—coming partly from the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, from personal and corporate donations and from par-ishes such as Saint Catherine of Siena’s AGTM. In the last six (6) years our parish has donated more than $181,000 to this vital Catholic healthcare ministry helping the working poor and those who cannot af-ford healthcare.

• Neighbors in Need Fund: this fund provides as-sistance to both our local neighbors in Simsbury and surrounding towns comprised of our parish-ioners in need of food, medicine, limited assistance with heat, electricity and other necessary utilities and assistance with emergency vehicle repairs and more. Additionally, our fund provides assistance to organizations that carry out works of Christian charity—from the Little Sisters of the Poor and Avon’s Gifts of Love to the Town of Simsbury’s Food Pantry. With the assistance of Simsbury State Representative John Hampton St. Catherine of Siena recently provided a significant donation to restock Simsbury’s food pantry when times were difficult and their pantry’s shelves were low on basic needs.

Through your generosity we can meet these needs and in your kind acts of charity—writing a check—you enable these two ministries to continue the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ: thus, you be-come another Christ to a brother or sister in need. Thank you! Beginning December 1 our Advent Giving Trees will be decorated with envelopes noting the two charities Malta House of Care and Neighbors in Need. Please take an envelope, pray over it and make a donation to ensure that we as a Catholic parish fulfill Christ’s request to “Feed My sheep and Tend My lambs.” (John 21) In that, you will be in the persona of Christ this Christmas—and all year long. Thank you!