Our neighbors are in need
To the Editor:
In preparing for the CRS/CCHD Diocesan Board meeting, I was studying the grant requests and taken aback by the need in our communities. I am grateful for the good people of our diocese who contribute to the CRS (Catholic Relief Services) Rice Bowl and CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) collections, but I can see that the need in our communities goes beyond what the donations can cover.
Here in the Social Action Office, we hear daily of someone in need of housing, utilities, food, etc., and we do our best to direct them to where they may find assistance. Unfortunately, that assistance generally dries up early in the month and there are people left homeless and hungry or without utilities.
We have children right here in our communities who are food insecure. Here in Davenport we have whole neighborhoods without enough food.
If you have not contributed to Rice Bowl or Catholic Campaign for Human Development, please do so and if you have already contributed and have the resources, please contribute to your local food pantry. If you can’t afford to contribute financially, consider volunteering.
As Catholics, we know that our Church teaches that we have a responsibility to our neighbors. Let’s do all we can to stock the shelves. Let’s talk to our political leaders about the needs in our communities. We can’t afford any more cuts to the programs that feed our neighbors. We have a responsibility to the children who are without food.
Having a roof over our head, food in our stomachs and an opportunity to earn a living wage is part of “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in my book.
Loxi Hopkins, volunteer
Diocese of Davenport, Social Action Office
Read the ‘Father Mottet’ book
To the Editor:
There are no coincidences! Waiting for me upon my recent return from the 70th reunion of my high school class was a copy of “How to Change the World Two Feet at a Time.” A priest friend loaned it to me with the invitation to join him in a “movement” to get the book to every priest, sister and parish in the Diocese of Davenport. It was his idea for the diocese to do this, and I agree wholeheartedly.
I read pages from the chapters of “You’re not a Victim — You’re an Actor” and “The Luckiest Thing that ever Happened to me” and recalled my own memories of those times. Even when I lived many states away from the diocese, I read about them in the Messenger to which I continued to subscribe. Sometimes, I had experiences parallel to those I read about, such as parishes having to combine. Others I wished I would have known, such as establishing a Diocesan Pastoral Council.
For readers of a “certain age,” especially, I urge that you enjoy the book as I am. Find all about it at www.fathermottet.com. Get on the “Mottet-wagon” and tell the diocese to distribute it.
Sister Mary Rehmann, CHM
Davenport
