As California fires continue to burn, Catholic Charities aids victims

November 13, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Sacramento, Calif., Nov 13, 2018 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As wildfires continue to burn throughout the state of California, local Catholic Charities agencies are working with agencies in neighboring states to coordinate relief.

The so-called Camp Fire in Northern California has claimed 29 lives in the town of Paradise, and has destroyed nearly 6,500 homes, making it the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history. The fire is only a quarter contained, according to the New York Times, and the local sheriff announced Sunday that nearly 230 people were still missing.

At the same time, the Woolsey Fire west of Los Angeles has destroyed an estimated 370 structures and claimed two lives so far.

Matt Vaughan, director of communications for Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada (CCNN), told CNA that the agency is working to gather supplies for survivors of the fires. CCNN is headquartered in Reno, Nevada, which is approximately 160 miles east of Chico, California, one of the largest cities affected by the Camp Fire.

“We're trying to collect donations, which we will then send over, most likely to Chico,” Vaughan said.

“It sounds like they're asking for a lot of the donations to be sent there right now, just because some of the other areas are affected [by the fire]…We have been in contact with Catholic Charities in Sacramento,” he said.

“We're just really focusing on getting the really crucial, needed items over to the affected victims over there at this point…warm clothes, shoes, paper products, blankets and coats are among the most needed items right now. And that's really what we're asking the community to provide.”

Yvette Myers, Chief Program Officer for CCNN, said she hopes to hear from the agency in Sacramento soon, as well as from the national branch of Catholic Charities, about the best way to deliver supplies.

She said they are working jointly with a local organization to send trucks full of supplies to California, starting Nov. 16, and that they won’t know how big the truck will need to be until they begin receiving donations.

“We're waiting to hear back from Sacramento…about if it's a possibility that we bring trucks to them, where they're going to go. So it's kind of a waiting game right at the moment,” Meyers said.

“We're actually waiting to hear back from [Catholic Charities USA]…about what the plan is.”

“Their greatest needs are clothing, hygiene, blankets, coats; they can use anything, but that's what they're really asking for right now,” she said.

According to the Diocese of Reno, items that are donated that are not accepted by the donation centers in California will go to local St. Vincent’s Thrift Stores in Nevada.

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How the Phoenix diocese is helping families celebrate Holy Week at home

April 4, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Phoenix, Ariz., Apr 4, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Holy Week this year is going to look different for almost every Catholic in the United States.

On Palm Sunday, people will wave last year’s palms, or this year’s pine branches, or, if they’re lucky, palms from their parish, from the confines of their home instead of the pews of their parish. On Holy Thursday, feet will be washed by a family member, or not at all. For the veneration of the Cross, Catholics will kiss their personal crucifixes instead of lining up to kiss the crucifix at their parish. Candle-lit Easter Vigils will be celebrated by solitary priests livestreaming Mass from empty chapels.

It’s going to be different, and it’s going to be hard. That’s why a group of priests and laypeople at the Diocese of Phoenix compiled “A Journey Through Holy Week for Families”, an online flipbook resource to guide Catholic families through celebrating Holy Week from their homes.

“We had a meeting last week…specifically about Holy Week and how to enter into Holy Week knowing that we couldn’t have public Masses at this time,” Fr. John Parks, the Vicar for Evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix, told CNA. “We just thought – what are ways that we could really strengthen the family and invite the family to pray as the domestic Church?” he said.

“You’re not going to be able to see the washing of the feet at Mass. So can we include a little rite from home that a family could do the washing the feet of their family members?” Parks said.

“Or on good Friday, again, you can’t see or experience the veneration of the Cross at Mass, could we equip a family to do a little veneration of the Cross from home?”

After the brainstorming session, Parks’ colleague compiled all the readings, prayers and resources into a 150 page online “flipbook” for families. The books covers the Mass readings as well as prayers and other liturgically-themed activities from Palm Sunday through the Triduum and Easter Sunday, as well as the readings and resources for Divine Mercy Sunday, which comes eight days after Easter.

The online book includes links to videos that include everything from livestream Masses from St. Mary’s Cathedral in Phoenix to talks by Bishop Robert Barron to recordings of songs to sing during prayer time at home.

It also includes links to recipes, virtual pilgrimages, coloring pages for kids, a guide to cut out palms from green construction paper, and a Holy Thursday puppet show script.

“There is so much…there’s all these different activities and songs you can play. So my only fear that it’d be a little overwhelming. But we’re trying to tell parents, just pick two or three things and have a little game plan for the day,” he said.

“So it’s like reading a playbook for sports – they don’t run every play, you just pick the play that you think will help your team, so that’s what we’re thinking of.”

Parks said while he understands that this Holy Week will be different than what families are used to experiencing, he thinks that this is a special time of grace for families, who are acting as the domestic Church.

“I really believe that God is pouring out a grace now to strengthen the domestic Church in the family. And that there’s a great thing poured out specifically for parents, to live deeper in their natural authority that they have over their children, to make them saints and to help them,” he said.

“This little book, it’s like ‘ut vadat tecum’, in Latin, ‘to go with’ you. It goes with you. It’s a tool that we hope to put in the hands of parents and pastors to help them equip families to walk through this week,” he said.

“That would be my desire, is that even though people can’t participate in public liturgies, there’s still a way to participate, to a lesser degree of course, but from the home. And I think for some families that might be unique. They’ve never done a washing of the feet. They’ve venerated the Cross. They’ve never prayed the Stations of the Cross in their own home. It can be a really beautiful moment of experiencing holy things in the home.”

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