February 2015 Our Lady of Charity Lancaster/Quartz Hill Conference THE VINCENTIAN TRUMPET 45058 Trevor Site 1, Suite B 44721 Trevor Site 2 44532 Trevor Site 3
WHO WE ARE For those of you who do not know us, we are Vincentians. Our founder pictured here, is Blessed Frederic Ozanam. In the spring of 1833, Frederic found himself challenged by fellow students to show us your good works today. Frederic was deeply troubled by this challenge because he realized that it was true, people always talk about doing good for others but rarely do anything about it. Frederic promptly set out with some friends to change the way things were. They located a simple charity run by Sister Rosalie and began their new mission by taking bread tickets to the poor. A local baker would redeem them for a loaf of bread. Later that same year, they started their own charity, naming it after St. Vincent de Paul. Who are we? We are your neighbors, your friends, your fellow workers, your priests. We are Christians who love to aid the poor in many different ways. And, yes, we still do things the old-fashioned way, just as Frederic and his friends did it over 180 years ago. We still take food to the poor families in need. We also comfort and care for the poor homeless who gather at our door, serving them a hot meal and giving them clean underwear, coffee, and a shoulder to cry on. Before they eat, we start our day with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord. If you d like to help us in some way, come and join in. If you can t, you can still be a Vincentian at heart just by sending us a check so that we can continue to do our Lord s work. A few people have even given us their cars. Not one of us receives even a penny. Officers President Don Willey Chairman of the Board Joyce Willey Vice President Kathy Clark Recording Secretary Teresa Matay Spirituality Teresa Matay Treasurer Cathy Cristos Corresponding Secretary and Thank You Susan Ortega Chairpersons Quarterly Mass Rep Dan Rejniak Garage Sales Tish Fox (Morris) Food Pantry Johnny Marchany Boutique Kathy Clark Newsletter Editor Michelle George Fr. Serra Rep. Susan Ortega Detention Ministry Don Willey Charley Shea Haircuts Diane Jones Greeter Alice Rodemeyer 2
February 2015 Calendar and other St. Vincent de Paul events SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 2 3 4 5 6 7 Soo Women of Grace/ Sacred Heart 2 nd Grade Miriam Sisters Don M. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Lisa P. / Mtg. 6-8 p.m. Site 1 Kathy C. Sue/Mac K of C 4th Degree 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 K of C 3 rd Degree Janet/Carolyn Sacred Heart 2nd Grade Fr. Serra Latinos 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 K of C 3 rd Degree/ Mtg. 6-8 p.m. Site 1 Johnny M. Fr. Serra Quarterly Mass 4:30 Site 1 Holy Cross I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit. The story of the Church is a long story, filled with the wonders of the Holy Spirit. Why should we think that God s imagination and love might be exhausted? Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens NOTE: If you have any questions or would like to prepare a meal for the homeless, please check the calendar for open days and call the Center at (661) 942-3222 on M-W-Th-Sat from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. Our mailing address is PO BOX 412, Lancaster 93584. 3
FROM OUR PASTOR: RAISING UP PROPHETS Who are today s prophets? Perhaps first we must ask what is a prophet? A prophet is one who speaks for God, and in our world today there are many who speak for God (priests, teachers, parents, and friends). One most important role in our Church today is to pray for more priests and to encourage those we think may be called to priesthood. In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 15, Moses spoke to the people, saying: A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin. I believe there are future priests right here at Sacred Heart Church and here in the Antelope Valley. I believe Moses words to his people are also meant for us today, a prophet like will the Lord, our God, raise up from among your own kin. If Catholics want to continue to have sacraments available to them then every single Catholic must realize it is his and her responsibility to help find and call forth these priests (prophets who will speak for God). As Fr. Eben leaves Sacred Heart, we have a bit of a hole, underscoring the urgent need to promote vocations. Please, don t pass off this important responsibility. Pray for vocations, talk about vocations and invite people to consider giving their life for service in the Church. While Jesus was on earth, the people were astonished at his teaching. Try and astonish someone by asking them if they have ever considered a vocation in the Church. Perhaps God will astonish us by raising up prophets from our own neighborhood. May we pray for this and work at making it happen in cooperation with the grace of God. Peace. Fr. Tom 4
A Message from Joyce I have good news. For several months, we have been trying to come up with a name for our newsletter. For us old timers you might remember it was called, Quips and Quotes. In the beginning, 1988, Ken Morton started the newsletter. He didn t type and computers were not like they are now. So he and our President would write up a letter he would take some holy cards, and articles and quotes to the Saint Rafael Press Shop where Emma McGuire (God bless her) would cut them to size and type up the letters and copy and place them on paper and make a pretty nice looking newsletter (for the times). I think we had about 30 hard copies that went out. Now we have over 200 hard copies and about 300+ e-mail copies. Therefore, our board wanted to update our name. At our last meeting we threw out some suggested names and spent a long time deciding. We chose words from one suggestion to another and finally came up with our new name, THE VINCENTIAN TRUMPET. We hope you like it as much as we do. We have a lot of plans for the 2015. For one Dan Rejniak one of our fairly new members has volunteered to be our new Quarterly Mass chairperson. He has contacted Fr. Leo from Fr. Serra Parish and set up a date on the calendar for our next Quarter Mass. This will be Friday, February 27th at 5pm. We will also be inducting some of our new members. So be sure to put this date on your calendar. It will be a pot-luck at our office 45058 Trevor Ave. So join us for the rosary at 4:30, Inductions at 4:45, Mass at 5 p.m. We would like to have several membership drivers this year. We need people to volunteer to pick-up donations for us, sort the donations at site 2, help Rod and Tony and Diane to oversee site 2. We need people who will come forward and help with our yard sales. Tish, our yard sale chairperson, is always looking for people to help with that project. We only have one about 5 or 6 times a year. We are planning on having our site 3 building insulated and painted and decorated with brick up about 3 feet from the bottom. If any of you have those kinds of talents we could sure use your help. Because we would have to use a scaffold we think we need a contractor to do this job. We also need people to make Home Visits to our Clients. Home Visits are actually following in St. Vincent s footsteps and going out into the community to meet our clients and know them as people instead of just handing out food to them. Therefore, you can see that as we grow we need many volunteers to help us further St. Vincent s mission. I promise that if we can get you in here to volunteer with us you will not be disappointed. Be sure to read THE VINCENTIAN TRUMPET each month to keep up on what is going on at your St. Vincent de Paul Society right here in Lancaster. Joyce 5
A Letter from Your President: Vincentians, We finally completed the year end rush that began in November for the Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets giveaway, including turkeys and trimmings, plus the toy giveaway to the children on our list. All of our clients had a wonderful and blessed holiday. All this was accomplished on top of our regular programs of feeding morning meals to at least 150 people. We also continued to make the Home Visitation to families who would call in asking for food. We can t forget our two Counselors each day, who interview the homeless and give them lunches and vouchers for clothing and other needs. Our paper work that goes with all our programs, including taxes, reports for our Los Angeles Councils, and all miscellaneous paper work is astronomical. None of this would happen without you and our terrific volunteers. Our future at site 1 and 2 looks very good because the City is planning on beautifying this location between Lancaster Blvd and Avenue J. That just happens to be in our area. This means that we made a good investment in our property! This information was in the Valley Press some months ago. Our goal is to eventually use site 3 as a warehouse and/or Thrift Store. We hope that this would create jobs and allow us to help people in many more ways. We at Our Lady of Charity want to extend our appreciation to everyone who helped in any way whether it is monetary, physically or spiritually. Because of you, we had a very fruitful 2014. The works of mercy are our response in compassion to those who suffer in body, mind, and spirit. These persons are, in truth, Jesus to us. A quote from Praying with Frederic Ozanam our founder. Yours in Christ, Don 6
Prayer Corner Anyone who wishes to add names can contact SVDP at svdp@rpmwin.com. We would love to hear from you and hope that all our fellow Vincentians will lift these people in prayer: David Cohen for Valley Fever, Nancy Miller for special intentions, and Lester Gilbert on dialysis and diabetic, Tom Russell for severe back problems, Wayne Squire for special intentions, Jean Dexheimer for special intentions, Diane Jones for neck and other problems, Sam Perez for cancer, Roberta and Walt Schmitt, and for all our clients, that God in his infinite mercy, will comfort them and send his angels to minister to them. Praise God for all our success and ask him for healing for our people still in need of our prayers as well as all of our Vincentians who so generously give of their time and talents. A sad tale here at St. Vincent: A grandmother came in the other day and was telling me her story of woe. Both of her adult daughters were in a car when the driver shot and killed someone. Consequences: both of her daughters were put in jail. One had a prior arrest and got 17 years, the other got seven years. I truly do not think people have any idea about the cost of their actions. Now this grandmother is taking on the responsibility of raising their three children. She had just applied for welfare and didn t have enough food to last even a few days. You would not believe the problems that people come in and share with us. It is so sad. We hear all the time of grandparents raising their grandchildren. I say kudos for grandparents and God bless our community that makes it possible for us to help our brothers and sisters. 7
FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS 6 Roberta Schmitt 11 Margarita H. 14 Susan Ortega 17 Vince Interrante 20 Anna Cole 22 Diane Jones 23 Frank Brazil 8