WHY PARTNER WITH US? A
WHY PARTNER WITH US? A parish partner helped Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Puerto Rico rebuild after Hurricane Maria. YOU’LL SEE THE RESULTS. The partnership won’t end once you’ve made your gift. We’ll share updates, stories and photos. It’s a moving experience to see how much your gifts can do, and how grateful the people you help will be. ENGAGE THE CHILDREN IN YOUR PARISH. Schools can join a larger parish project, or take on one of their own. In fact, a number of the missions we support specifically serve children, including: • Summer Camps • Youth Centers • Sisters’ Ministries It may be most meaningful to let the students discuss several projects and choose one that they feel moved to take part in. It’s up to you and your parish leadership. These relationships between Catholic Extension and the ministries that need support is what makes the difference between “helping” and “serving.” Melissa Howlett, director of religious education at a Chicago-area parish, said it’s the difference between “coming out, meeting people, being with people … as opposed to coming with our own agenda.” “Catholic Extension does such a good job seeing who’s already there, working hard, and investing in those people,” she said. With the support from this parish, a “literacy wagon” program is fighting summer learning loss among the children of migrant farmworkers in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. Read the full story at catholicextension.org/literacy-wagon. PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION Milwaukee-area parish paid it forward during Lent A Milwaukee-area parish and school raised money for Sister Phyllis Wilhelm and St. Mary Parish, a remote Catholic faith community in the far northern reaches of their own state. Their church had benefited from a Catholic Extension grant years ago, and they wanted to help a parish who was now in need. The pastor said the parish needed to remember those rural, isolated mission churches that need help now more than ever. The St. Mary community is extremely grateful. In a letter to the parish, Sister Phyllis wrote, “It is said that St. Francis told his followers to ‘preach the Gospel and if necessary to use words.’ That is exactly what you, good people, have done. You have spread God’s love and word through your loving actions toward the mission and ministry of all of us at St. Mary’s.”
