St. Joseph the Worker

Dear Parishioners of SJW:

 This next weekend, July 26/27, is our annual Missionary Cooperative Plan for 2025.  This is required by our diocese once a year. 

We welcome to St. Joseph the Worker parish Sister Paesie from the country of Haiti, whose religious community works in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.  Sister works among the poorest of the poor in Cite Soleil slum.  She works on behalf of the Kizito Family Haiti-USA.  Sr. Paesie will be traveling to Chatham from Haiti along with one of the foundation’s board members, Helen Snyder, who resides in Virginia.

Sister was raised in France, the third of eight children.  She heard the vocation call at age 15.  In 1987, on her 18^th birthday, she joined the Missionaries of Charity under Mother Teresa.  In 1999, Sister went to Haiti to minister in a medical clinic.  In 2017, she began the “Kizito Family,” a Pious Association of the faithful.  She has spent the last 7 years ministering to and living alongside the poorest of the poor in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince. 

The Kizito Family is a community of Catholic nuns, founded by Sister Paesie, whose mission is to create places where the children of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince can be safe, grow up learning to read and write, and come to know Jesus.

The work of Sister et al: 1,500 students in 8 schools; 173 children living in 7 homes for children; 160 local employees (150 teachers); 1,200 children attending catechism; 1,500+ meals provided daily.

This is what a reoccurring monthly donation would provide:  $15—one daily meal for a child for a month; $15—rent for a single mother for a month; $35—a month of meals, school fees, and foster home costs for a child; $120—monthly salary of a teacher.

Let us welcome Sister and Ms. Snyder to our parish.  May we be generous in responding to their plea to help them in their compassionate outreach to the Lord’s poor.  We have so much to be thankful for in our lives.  We are rich in many ways.  Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.  So many lack the most basic necessities of life which we take for granted.

Do we take our blessings for granted?

Do we say THANK YOU to the Lord for the many advantages we have?

Do we offer to help those who are in need?

Do we pledge ourselves to grow in awareness of the plight of the poor in our own area and in the world?

Let us commit ourselves to seeing the Lord in all those around us, inspired by the presence of Sr. Paesie.

Your Pastor, Father Joe