Around
the Nation
Family Commissions at Work
Let's look at what Family Commissions around the nation are
doing:
Troudabours of Peace Region (Mossyrock,
WA) - held a "Commissions Fair" with each commission setting up a
booth. "Fishing for
Mission" was one of their games. Each
contestant gets a ticket to describe what he or she thinks a family is .
Saint Margaret of Cortona Region
(Saint Mary of the Angels Fraternity) – created Saint Anthony's
Bread under the leadership of their Family Commission Chair, Susan Jamison.
Her group prepares sandwiches to feed the homeless of the inner city of
Washington, DC. She started feeding
about twenty men, now her group feeds about 120 homeless men every weekend.
She reached out to the youth group of the nearby parishes to help her
prepare the sandwiches and deliver them to the needy persons.
Saint
Mary of the Angels Fraternity Family Commission invited a resource person to
talk about Mary Garden. A Mary
Garden is a garden dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God.
It can be as small as a clay pot or as a large as a city block.
A statue of Mary is surrounded by herbs and flowers, which have special
significance or meaning. The family can start a Mary Garden in their own home and
encourage neighbors to do the same. Children
can be a big part of this family activity by involving them in planting and
choosing the flowers or herbs they want to include in their Mary Garden.
The garden can grow in a secluded comer of your garden or backyard or in
front of your house open to the neighborhood.
It can be a pot on your windowsill, on a patio or on an indoor table.
An indoor garden might be planted in a dish, planter, glass or fishbowl.
The Mary Garden is an act of faith.
The flowers are symbols of the Blessed Virgin.
For example, the cornflower is Mary's crown, impatiens is Mother love,
Marigold is Mary's gold, the sweet alyssum is the flower of the cros,s or the
zinnia as the Virgin. A beautiful
way to honor our Blessed Mother, Mary!
Holy Family Fraternity, Fort Wayne,
Indiana, Elizabeth Hilker, Regional Family Commission Chair reports:
For
their family apostolate they adopted three Burmese refugee families consisting
of six adults and eight children. They
provided them bed linens, pillows and blankets.
They went Christmas shopping for these families who were not ready for
the cold weather for winter clothes like winter coals, gloves, scarves, and
caps. The Catholic Charities who
provided them with living quarters were very grateful for the generosity and
kindness of the Secular Franciscans.
This
August their region will meet in Kokomo, Indiana for "Unity Day" where
all the regional commissioners will each present their mission statement.
There will be a sharing of what they have been doing and what they want
to accomplish.
What
about your Region?
We'd love to hear from you!
Please share with us your family.
E-mail
us at jsbernardo@msn.com