Solidarity & our daily bread

"Give us this day our daily bread..." we pray in the Our Father. And God provides...through the work of countless people we will never know.

I was reminded of this truth this evening as I read the Fall/Winter 2008 issue of Sacred Ground, the magazine of Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA). I've written about CFCA and my sponsorship of a young Filipino named Manuelito before, and I continue to encourage anyone interested in sponsoring a poor child (or aging person) to consider CFCA because it is a stellar organization founded on Catholic principles.

For example, solidarity is part of the CFCA mission statement because it is an essential part of Catholic social teaching. I think this story, shared in the article "Solidarity: A Walk of Love," illustrates solidarity well:

"Every morning when CFCA sponsor and board chairman Scott Wasserman gets dressed, he checks his shirt label to see where his garment was made. He then spends a moment thinking of the person who made it, most likely a woman.

'I pray for her and her family while I hold the shirt she made for me,' Wasserman said. 'The entire spiritual exercise takes only a few moments. But done consistently every day over the years, it leads to solidarity with the poor, and that leads to action such as sponsorship with CFCA.'"

As I pondered this idea my gaze fell to my dinner plate. Because David was at church training altar servers for the Latin Mass, I was reading Sacred Ground while enjoying the London broil he'd made in the crock pot, along with some sweet potato casserole. In times past I have tried to bring to mind and pray for many of the people involved in getting us the food we eat - to not take them and the hard work they do (or my dependence upon it) for granted. For example, I should thank the Lord for...

• The rancher that raised the cow
• The butcher that prepared the cut of meat
• The packager who wrapped it up
• The truck driver who transported it to my grocery store
• The farmer who cultivated and harvested those sweet potatoes
• The stocker who laid them out in the store
• The cashier who rang up my purchases (and all those coupons)
  
• The creative minds behind the development, packaging, and advertising of all the other ingredients we used in our meal
• The cooks who created the recipes we used (I really like MoneySavingMom's sweet potato casserole, with marshmallows for topping)
  
• The web gurus who keep sites like Allrecipes.com going so we can quickly find out how to make London broil (this was our first time)

I could go on, because the contributions don't end there. People all over the place had a hand in my meal. These are my brothers and sisters, doing their daily work, and I hope they know that someone appreciates their good service!

I pray that the Lord will help me to be even more mindful of how much I need others, far and near, to live as I am blessed to live. I am grateful for God's Providence - and for the role He allows me to play in providing for others.

I can only imagine how this insight will deepen when Teresa comes and I *get* to take care of her, with others' help. Already we have been so blessed by the generosity of friends and family - and those unknown people who donate used clothing and baby supplies to thrift stores. Deo gratias!

Cord Blood Donation

Baby magazines are peppered with advertisements for cord blood banks urging parents to have their babies' cord blood stored. For an average starting cost of $1,800 and yearly fees around $125 a bank will store your little one's umbilical and placental blood-making stem cells. These cells would be retrievable if your child (or perhaps its sibling) develops a life-threatening but treatable-by-stem-cells illness such as leukemia or lymphoma.

I don't know about your family, but I don't think that cord blood banking will be a wise insurance choice for our family, given its expense and the small chance our child(ren) will have of developing one of the applicable diseases.

Today, however, I read about an option that does sound right up our pro-life alley: cord blood donation. An article in an old issue of Focus on the Family magazine (which I love, by the way) shared one mom's decision to donate her sons' cord blood to a public bank for use by any matching patient. Intrigued, I did a little research online.

To donate cord blood the donor parents must complete medical documentation, receive a collection kit and instruct birth attendants in its use, and contact the bank to pick up the donation after the delivery. All free! Read more here:

• Information from the National Marrow Donor Program
• An informative article at Charity Guide
• More from Health Resources and Service Information, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

By the time I skimmed through the basic info and FAQ's, I was convinced. What better way to support a morally acceptable and medically superior alternative to embryonic stem cell research?

Alas, the list of participating hospitals revealed that we will not be able to donate at our hospital - in fact, no Charlotte-area hospitals are participating at this time. Perhaps it's time to do some advocacy with the hospital?

COMPASS Catholic Campus Ministry

As grateful as I am for my college education, I am not proud of the negative impact my supposedly "Catholic" alma mater has on the faith of many of its students. Although opportunities to explore and exercise faith (particularly through community service) abound on campus, the example and messages set forth by the college often contradict orthodox Catholic teaching.

As my own Catholic faith deepened, I became increasingly uncomfortable with my college. I realized I could not contribute to it financially in good conscience, knowing that it might use some of my donation to fund immoral programs. So, for the past four years I have tossed those mailings begging for money in the recycling and politely declined the requests of the young students who called me during the phone-a-thons.

This past year, however, the solicitations have gone up a notch. A very wealthy alum pledged a huge sum for student internships if a certain percentage of alumni contributed within a certain time frame. At first I ignored the emails and brochures. But my heart began to ache a little at the thought that my choice not to donate might prevent the college from receiving funding for something worthwhile. They weren't asking me for much - just $1 so they could say I contributed. My mind churned as I tried to come up with some way I could give a little money, fulfill the requirements for the match, and still have a clear conscience.

After several months, the answer came to me: earmark my donation for a particular Catholic ministry or student organization that I KNEW was upholding Church teaching. I had the great privilege of participating in COMPASS my senior year of college. Our small group gathered for prayer, meditated on the Sunday Gospel, listened to tapes with solid Catholic teachings (including an introduction to the Theology of the Body), and discussed living out the faith as students and beyond. Best of all, we met at the campus ministry house for Feast Day Dinners every so often - we learned about saints and shared a meal from their country of origin.

I don't know how the group is doing on my alma mater's campus these days, but I hope my small donation and prayers give them a boost.

Do you have a campus ministry you enjoyed as a student and still support today?

Meet Manuelito

Back in 2004, a few months after I began my first real job, I decided I wanted to sponsor a child in need. I had heard about the big Christian organizations like Compassion and WorldVision, but I did a little web searching for a specifically Catholic organization, one that would support the Catholic faith of its sponsees. That's how I discovered CFCA, the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. CFCA matches sponsors (mostly by making presentations in Catholic parishes throughout the United States) with impoverished children and aging people in 25 countries. According to their website, "Sponsorship provides for fees, books, school uniforms and supplies - items children living in poverty cannot afford. Our work enhances the lives of the poor with clothing, nutrition and household items needed for basic comfort and good health." CFCA is not a Catholic missionary organization, so they do not proselytize sponsees of other faiths. But if the sponsees' family and community are Catholic, sponsorship dollars also go towards their catechetical formation. I know this because my sponsored child told me about the benefits he receives.

I am happy to introduce you to Manuelito, a sixteen-year-old boy living in a village outside of Manila, Phillippines. He is the oldest of three children of a casual laborer and his wife. Manuelito attends school and does well in his studies (I get to see a copy of his report card - in tagalog and English - every year). In his most recent letter he told me that he is now folk dancing with his school's intramural team. He also won second place overall in their Mr. Teen competition. Woohoo!

Isn't he a cutie?

late 2004

early 2006

early 2007

the latest (quite the young man now, isn't he?)

And isn't this a great card that he designed and wrote for me?


(Note: due to the time delay in our communications, I just received this card that he made me in February. And he hadn't heard at that time that I'm married now and have a new last name.)

If you are interested in sponsoring a child, aging person, or religious vocation candidate, visit CFCA's sponsorship page for more information.