Social Justice and Outreach Ministry

Opportunities to Serve

Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Matthew 25:37-39

THE TWO FEET OF

To love someone is to desire that person's good and to take effective steps to secure it. Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society: the common good. It is the good of all of us, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who Together constitute society.
2009 encyclical, Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict

LOVE IN ACTION

(Source: USCCB)

Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelled out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36-40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbor.
2009 encyclical, Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict

Adopt-A-Family Provides opportunities for

parishioners to provide Christmas needs to families struggling economically. Contact Kathy Lewis, [email protected], (602) 790-0844, or Maureen Cain at [email protected], or (480) 951-1634.

Andre House provides between 400-700 meals

daily. St.Patrick has a team that prepares and serves dinner the fourth Wednesday of each month. Contact Ron Meyers at 480-585-9218 or email [email protected].

Behavioral Health Initiative. We are an interest group that keeps mental

health issues a priority in the faith-based community and the community-at-large. We aim to support individuals and families dealing with mental health issues in three areas of focus: Education, Advocacy, and Direct Service. Contact Sandy Meyers, (480) 998-3843 x 108 or email [email protected]

Caf JustoJust Coffee Ministry

Buying Just Coffee supports the families in Chiapas by providing a brighter future and decent life. Just Coffee provides incentives for people to remain in their family lands. Coffee available 2nd & 4th weekend in the Narthex. Contact Jozef de Groot at [email protected] or 480-319-4812.

Cancer Support Group assists cancer patients, their families and their friends.
Ministry members intervene during this difficult time to strengthen spiritual growth. Meetings are held the 1st Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM. Contact Gloria Yturralde, (480) 391-3284.

Caregiver Support Group Offers emotional,

spiritual and educational support to all caregivers the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month, 9:30 11:00AM. The parish social worker and parish nurse are available to the group to provide resources. This is an ongoing open support group. Contact Sandy Meyers, (480) 998-3843 x 108 or email [email protected]

Caring Place promotes well-being for

seniors, adults with special needs and their caregivers, offering social, educational and spiritual support in a caring and healing environment with outreach and advocacy, spiritual guidance, resource information and referrals to community care services. Contact Walt Morris, (480) 699-9833 or [email protected] or Joni Giddings at [email protected].

Duet: Partners in Health and Aging

promotes health and well-being through a braod range of services to homebound adults, caregivers, faith communities and grandparents raising grandchildren. Focus with St. Patrick is serving the homebound elders and adults with disabilities in the community. Contact Cheryl Kerivan, (480) 998-3843 x 116 or [email protected].

Emergency Assistance Ministry (EAM) provides financial assistance,

interpersonal support, and community referrals to individuals within the parish boundaries who are in need of immediate support. EAM also strives to build and maintain referral partnerships with other social service agencies throughout the community so that all resources can be maximized for the clients benefit. Contact Rosemary Cudzewicz, (480) 513-1762 or [email protected].

Employment Support Group provides support for

people in job transition to help one another. Bi-weekly Wednesday, 7:00 PM event called Connections. The goal of this gathering is for all jobseekers to walk away with new contacts and/or ideas to aid them in their job search. Contact Kevin Slakey, (602) 617-7507 or [email protected].

To live charitably means not looking out for our own interests, but carrying the burdens of the weakest and poorest among us.
Pope Francis

Fair Trade ministry offers parishioners an opportunity to buy fair trade products,
and participate in the economy in a fundamentally moral and just way. A Bazaar is organized to take advantage of the Christmas shopping season featuring Gifts from Bethlehem, Caf Justo, Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade, and the Womens Empowerment Program-Refugee Focus with Catholic Charities. Contact [email protected].

Family Promise Ministry collaborates with

Family Promise of Greater Phoenix to reduce family homelessness in the area by providing shelter, case management, assistance and life-skills training so families can gain self-sufficiency. The ministry at St. Patrick hosts 4-6 families who are transitioning out of homelessness, arranging for guests to spend a week with us in the Fenlon Hospitality Center, and coordinating parish groups to offer meals/snacks, gather donations, or serve as overnight hosts. Contact Jozef deGroot, (480) 319-4812, [email protected], or Suzanne Gilbert, (480) 922-2733 or [email protected].

Like family life, economic life is one of the chief areas where we live out our faith, love our neighbor, confront temptation, fulfill God's creative design, and achieve holiness. Our economic activity in factory, field, office, or shop feeds our familiesor feeds our anxieties. It exercises our talentsor wastes them. It raises our hopesor crushes them. It brings us into cooperation with others or sets us at odds.
Economic Justice for All, U.S. Catholic Bishops, #6 (1986)

Weekly Food Collection - Food is collected at each

Mass in the green bins in front of the Church. The food is distributed weekly to Vista del Camino, and St. Vincent de Paul. Contact John Nichols at 480-860-5758 or [email protected]

Friends of Circle the City offers support to Circle

the City, a medical respite center providing homeless individuals and families with health care, healing and hope through short-term medical care, social services and more. Ministers serve on Wednesdays. Contact Amy Bonner, (480) 694-1237 or [email protected].

Giving Trees is an annual ministry that

assists community agencies to meet identified needs of families and individuals at Christmas time. Needs that are identified are placed on Christmas ornaments that adorn the tree in our Narthex. Preparation period begins in October and ends the week before Christmas Day. Commitment is flexible. Contact Natalie Scott, (480) 451-9363.

You tell us that to love God and neighbor is not something abstract, but profoundly concrete: it means seeing in every person the face of the Lord to be served, to serve him concretely. And you are, dear brothers and sisters, the face of Jesus.
Pope Francis

Grief Support Group is an ongoing, Christcentered faith sharing group for those who need consolation and support after losing a loved one. Days & times vary. Contact Sandy Meyers at (480) 9983843 x 108 or [email protected]

Habitat for Humanity provides affordable

housing for families giving their own sweat equity to the construction of the home. Carpentry, roofing, siding, painting, and providing lunch for the workers is needed. Join us for Saturday build days throughout the year. Contact Brian at [email protected] or (602) 617-7994

Helping Hands Ministry reaches out to assist parishioners and those within the
parish boundaries with serious and immediate small household repairs. Contact Leonard Rimbey at (480) 998-3843 x 215 or [email protected].

Hike for the Homeless supports St.

Joseph the Worker, which helps people achieve self-sufficiency through quality employment. Hikers are needed once a year to join St. Patrick Hike for the Homeless Team. Contact Kathleen Kelly at (480) 699-6784 or email to [email protected].

Just Faith - Living as Christians in

todays world. JustFaith is focused on understanding Catholic Social Teaching and how we can address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our world. Sessions start in late summer/early fall. Contact Curt at 480-998-3843 or [email protected].

A basic moral test of a society is how its most vulnerable members are faring.
U.S. Catholic Bishops, A Century of Social Teaching, 1991

Justa Center is a day resource center for

older homeless individuals. Parishioners can assist with pick up and delivery of donated furniture and various other duties. Eye doctors and dentists are needed for one or more appointments per month for participants. Donations needed for day-to-day operations. Contact Jerry Mallarkey at (480) 221-0649 or [email protected]

Maggies Place provides support and

assistance to young expectant mothers-tobe without a home or family so they may keep their babies and build a new life. St. Patrick ministry members assist with office or administrative work, run errands, prepare meals, and work with new mothers. Adults and teens needed to work on Saturday from 9:00 AM till 2:00 PM. Group projects available twice a month. Donations requested for household supplies, detergent, toilet paper, some furniture. Contact Vicki Randall, (480) 860-9734 or [email protected].

Open Table provides a table of

mentors for adults and families moving out of poverty. Table members provide 12-24 months of encouragement and support to help achieve the goals the table brother or sister has developed. Contact Mary Ryan, [email protected] or MaryEllen Roche, [email protected].

Parish Nurse Ministry assists and supports

members of the community with their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being through compassionate care, health education, health advocacy and by serving as a liaison to community services. Contact Sandy Meyers at (480) 9983843, x 108 or [email protected]

Paz de Cristo provides over 250 evening meals daily

and provides 1300 food boxes a month to those in need. St. Patrick has a team that prepares and serves dinner the second Monday of each month. Contact Alex or Rosemary at 480-513-1762 or [email protected]

Refugee Ministry coordinates with Catholic

Charities and Welcome to America Project to support people who flee to America because their lives are at risk in war-torn countries. Contact Bashar Shammas, (602) 284-8666, or [email protected] or Anne Canella, (480) 363-7988 or email at [email protected].

The ultimate injustice is for a person or group to be treated actively or abandoned passively as if they were nonmembers of the human race.
U.S. Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, 1986

Response Team reaches out to support parishioners and those within parish
boundaries with serious and immediate non-financial needs by connecting them to various appropriate ministries and referrals to outside resources. Contact Gerri Shaw at [email protected]

Senior Ministry provides, supports and

enriches the spiritual educational and social facets in the lives of our Seniors while strengthening the bonds within our community. We provide resource information to help address the concerns of Senior Citizens. Contact Jennifer Beichner, (480) 205-0446 or [email protected], or Karen Gambino, (602) 828-9375, [email protected].

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St. Matthew Catholic School

provides parishioners the opportunity to tutor students at St. Matthew School on a weekly basis. Contact Cathy Gomez, (602) 774-1871, [email protected].

Valley Interfaith Project - As a member of

Valley Interfaith Project, St. Patrick engages in active ministry focused on community organization to effect the social teachings of the Church. The ministry organizes and develops relationships with local leaders to address community issues and needs. Members are engaged with strategic efforts to impact local and legislative decisions affecting poor and vulnerable people, as well as larger community needs. Time commitment varies with interest and desire to act on efforts on the agenda. Contact John or Susan Wanat, (480) 661-0106 or [email protected] or [email protected].

Water Hydration Drive provides water for the

homeless, elderly and disabled through the Heat Relief Networks hydrations stations throughout the Valley. Ministers help before and after Masses during May and June. Contact Peg Bohnert, (480) 451-6472 or [email protected] or Lynn Watson at [email protected].

When we are generous in welcoming people and sharing something with themsome food, a place in our homes, our timenot only do we no longer remain poor: we are enriched. I am well aware that when someone needing food knocks at your door, you always find a way of sharing food; as the proverb says, one can always add more water to the beans! Is it possible to add more water to the beans?Always?And you do so with love, demonstrating that true riches consist not in materials things, but in the heart!.
Pope Francis

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Welcome to America Project is a

nonprofit organization that creates community connections and builds bridges of neighborly understanding by providing furniture, basic necessities, education and additional resources to newly arriving refugees. Contact Alex Cudzewicz, (480) 513-1762 or [email protected].

Themes from Catholic Social Teaching

Life and Dignity of the Human Person. Call to Family, Community, and Participation. Rights and Responsibilities. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers. Solidarity. Care for Gods Creation
Source: USCCB

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What Can I do?

Become involved in one of our Social Justice and Outreach Ministries. Whether your interest is Advocacy and seeking legislative
change on Social Justice issues, swinging a hammer to help build one of our Habitat for Humanity homes, or working with the elderly in our community through our Senior Ministry, were sure to have something that will satisfy your calling to serve. Just contact the minister identified in this guide for the ministry youre interested in and tell us how youd like to help.

Provide Financial Support to our various ministries throughout the year. From our 5th Sunday Collection for the Poor, food donations to feed
the hungry (or our busy Ministers working on long projects), to seasonal funding drives, watch the Parish Bulletin for news on our current projects and needs.

Attend Come and See and other informational meetings.

Throughout the year, our various ministries hold sessions so that others may learn about the important work they are doing in their ministry and get information on how you can help.

Review the Social Justice page on the Parishs website. Information

on current ministry happenings, organizations and causes supported, teaching Statements, Letters, and Encyclicals are regularly updated and a great source of helpful information.

Learn more about the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching. We

offer various programs throughout the year, including our comprehensive JustFaith experiential program which breaks open many of the challenges of living in todays complex and difficult world using the prism of Catholic Social Teaching.

For more information

Contact the Social Justice and Outreach Ministry

480-998-3843
[email protected] www.Stpatcc.org
Revised: 03/24/2014