We are committed to providing care to people who are most at risk in our communities, to addressing gaps in service with innovation and compassion.
Reaching Out
Love is that condition in the human spirit so profound that it empowers us to develop courage; to trust that courage and build bridges with it; to trust those bridges and cross over them so we can attempt to reach each other.
Maya Angelou
Our Catholic tradition teaches us that each of us is not only sacred, but social. We find fulfillment through belonging and interactions with others. As people committed to creating communities of belonging, we know the moral test of our society is how our most vulnerable members are faring.
We saw this so clearly over the past few years as the COVID-19 pandemic shone a public light on what’s at the heart of our Catholic ministry: human dignity, compassion, the importance of human connection, and the meaning of wellbeing—body, mind and spirit.
COVID-19 challenged us to think about how we organize ourselves as social groups, as cities, towns and parishes, and as service organizations. As we focused on keeping people safe, the pandemic challenged us to also examine our profound social responsibility to reach out so that no one is left isolated or abandoned. It compelled us seek new methods and new partners in bridge building.
As we emerge from this time of distance and barriers, may these bridges, bonds and new insights continue to guide us forward so that no one is ever left behind.
Let us take a moment to reflect
How have you reached out and bridged gaps in your community in the past few years? How might
this strengthen community into the future?
2. What has the pandemic shown us about who is most vulnerable in our society?
3. When we lack the courage to reach out, what might be holding us back? How can we overcome
these barriers?
Let us pray
Loving God,
Help us to come out of this Pandemic better, not bitter.
Help us to become more considerate of others,
more mindful of how we bridge the distance,
and walk side by side with those in need.
We thank You that no matter how dark the way may get,
there is the hope of the dawn to come.
Amen