We are a blessed parish. Blessed by the people who bring to life our faith, sharing our own blessings with others in need? As we watch the daily news on TV or listen to the radio or read the newspapers, we hear of the tragedies of our world—from terrorism to war, from hunger to homelessness, from sickness to much more, the news can be depressing.

And while there is far too much negative or sad news there are also tremendous amounts of good, positive news happening right—here in St. Catherine of Siena Parish, through many ministries:

• Helping to feed the hungry—our St. Elizabeth House ministry prepares and serves dinner once-a-month at a Hartford shelter for families in need, our Youth Feed the Hungry ministry making sandwiches and soup for 200 homeless men each month, and our Pantry Partners ministry delivering Blessing Boxes with fresh seasonal vegetables, staples, meat, poultry and other items each month to some 60 local families in need;
• Caring and helping others—Neighbors In Need—helps to provide fuel for heat during the winter months, provides for electric bills, offers Stop and Shop gift cards to buy food for families in need and CVS gift cards to help with co-pays for medicines, and even enables us to help with rent payments and auto repairs. This outreach helps us help working families who are struggling with life’s everyday bills. This truly helps as people deal with sickness or loss of work, from long-term un- and under-employment;
• Health care for those who struggle—Knights of Malta Mobil Healthcare—enables us to provide healthcare through the Knights of Malta Mobil Vans who along with many volunteer doctors, nurses, and lay volunteers bring health care diagnosis and follow-up services to those who have no insurance—poor families, refugees, the elderly on limited incomes, and the working poor. In our area where plenty seems to be ever-present there is a “dirty little secret” – many wonderful, hardworking people are struggling to make ends meet. They face each day without the ability to go to the doctor or to visit the pharmacy—diseases and conditions go without diagnosis. and then without medication. Your generosity helps provide the miracle of modern medical care.

St. Catherine of Parish provides the opportunity to carry out these ministries all year long through the success of our annual Advent Giving Tree program, which was started by parishioners nearly nine years ago in a family room on Lawton Drive. A group of parishioners came together to make life a little easier for those who struggle with food, medicine and everyday expenses.

From that nighttime gathering of neighbors, the Advent Giving Tree and our three beneficiaries came into being:Neighbors In Need, The Knights of Malta Mobil Healthcare Vans, and our Parish Legacy Fund. Neighbors in Need provides for food and clothing, electric bills and heat; The Knights of Malta offer an conduit for medical care and a better life; and the Parish Legacy Fund offers stability for our parish ministries to carry out the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. I hope you will help us continue and expand our missionary outreach as a Catholic Church, as Pope Francis calls us to be.

Beginning this weekend, Christmas trees in the atrium and vestibule will be decorated with envelopes for you to take and make a spiritual offering of finances to help fund specific
ministries throughout the year. You can make your donation—and then direct it to where you want the money to be spent: donate to your neighbors in need by purchasing food, paying for electric bills or fuel for heat, help a single mom buy her children coats for the winter or pay for flu shots. You can make your donation—and then direct it toward the Knights of Malta Mobil Healthcare Vans so that people in towns across the Archdiocese can receive medical attention, diagnosis, and needed medicines to treat high blood pressure, diabetes or receive ultra sounds or breast cancer treatments. You can make your donation—and direct it to our Parish Legacy Fund for a specific ministry, such as the Youth Ministry, to carry on the love and compassion of Christ in our modern world. Whatever you choose, the money will go to do God’s work in this world.

A few things I want you to be sure of as you consider making a donation to our Advent Giving Tree: first, every penny donated goes to a charitable use, no administrative costs come out of the donations made—100% of your donation goes to either our Neighbors In Need, the Knights of Malta Mobil Care, or the Parish Legacy Fund (ministries). And second, the need in Simsbury and the surrounding Farmington Valley area is much more than one might think. Single parents with children, under-employed adults who find it hard to locate another job, elderly adults forced to work a part time job to supplement their Social Security or to cover an unexpected medical cost are all
present right in our own neighborhoods. This past week our parish helped an older couple with gift cards to Stop and Shop after a wife had to make a decision between raising the heat in their home or buy a winter coat for her husband who is undergoing chemotherapy and is always cold. The cost of the new coat cut into their monthly food budget two weeks before their Social Security arrived. This should not happen to a woman who still works past retirement in a State as wealthy as Connecticut. Your compassion and kindness will help make all the difference in the world. Thank you!