Author Archives: stpeters

Trinity Sunday May 22, 2016

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sharelife2Working wonders for those in our community…

“I first came to Rose of Sharon as a pregnant, young mom, thinking this would never happen to me,” explains Brittany, now with her five year old son Ethan and one year old daughter Sarah. At 17, Brittany came to the Rose of Sharon to enroll in the mother baby programs designed to assist her and her new family get on their feet. Everything from diapers, food, clothing, cooking classes, completion of high school education, Ontario Works application, resume assistance and more was available to her. Within a year, she was able to use her new-found skills to adjust to her new life. Brittany thanks ShareLife donors for their financial support to help them deal with the challenges they have faced, and learning to grow as a family and enjoy each other. Last year, over 6,300 young parents received the care, counselling and educational support they needed to care for themselves and their new families.

So far our parish has collected over $17,000. Our parish goal for this year is $20,000.

Next Sunday, May 29, 2016 is ShareLife Sunday Please give generously. You can work wonders!

Summer Camps – St. Vincent de Paul Society

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St-Vincents-good_works_largeMarygrove:  Girls 5-13 yrs.
Ozanam:       Boys 6-13 yrs.

Our parish – St. Vincent De Paul Society conference is taking requests for the registration of children who would like to attend summer camp. This is a one-week excursion – free of charge – for those children who would not otherwise be able to afford a summer camp experience. For registration and further information, please call (416) 534-4219, ext.229 (SVDP), and leave the appropriate information (including a phone #); then a member of St. Vincent De Paul will contact you. Registration open from May 16 – May 28.

Congratulations and Prayerful wishes to:

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Michael Rocco Bocale, Felicia Ciraco, Matthew Antonio Costanzo, Daniel  Alves Damiao, Emmanuel  Alves Damiao, Mateo Faria-Lopes, Patrick Joseph Thomas  Feraday, Alia Nicole Ferreira, Cristopher  Fonseca, Beatrice  Gagliano,  Nadia Gaspar, Aidan Gupta, Xavier Hollott-Lo, Kyra  Jargaille, Ashlee Ann Kaizan Villamil, Stephanie Barbara Karalis, Jose Eusevio Castellanos Lopez, Rachel Nicole Loreti, Jaden Michael Loyola, Kyle  Martins, Adam Orjalo, Raphael Provido, Nicole Romano, Richard-Joslyn Rose, Marissa  Seminara-Andrade, Vincenzo  Silvaggio, Marcus Domenic Smith, Gregory Anthony  Talotta-Valencia, Maryem Carmela Yesilkaya

…..who received the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend!

Pentecost Sunday in the Year of Mercy

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pentA few weeks ago, I was reading the Toronto Star and came across a headline which read: “Compassion drives judge to join army veteran in jail cell.” Now since it is not very often that we can find a good news story in the newspapers, this story grabbed my attention. The article was about a former special service soldier who had fought four tours of duty in the Green Barets of the United States Army in Afghanistan. While away fighting, he had escaped death three times. The name of the retired soldier was Sergeant Joseph Serna. His bravery and efforts while he was away fighting had won him three purple heart medals— a medal given to those who are injured while fighting bravely. Unfortunately, since the time that Sergeant Serna had returned from battle, his efforts to return to civilian life had been very difficult. He had struggled with post-traumatic stress and drug and alcohol addiction. He was left with a great deal of fear after all of the very stressful experiences that he had while away at war. As a result of his many run-ins with the law, a judge had been assigned to Sergeant Serna’s case and he had the responsibility of reporting into this judge about his progress. The name of the judge in the story was Judge Lou Olivera. The story reported how recently, when Sergeant Serna had to admit that he had failed to remain sober and had retuned to using alcohol, against his probation order, it was necessary for Judge Olivera to sentence Sergeant Serna to one night in jail. However, what makes the story amazing, is that Judge Olivera knew that because of all his past traumatic experiences, Sergeant Serna would be afraid to spend the night alone in jail. In order that he might have the courage to face the situation, Judge Olivera drove Sergeant Serna from the courthouse  in his own car to the jail and then spent the entire evening in the jail cell with him. Judge Olivera stayed with Sergeant Serna the whole evening, spoke with him about how he might handle his problems and gave him reason to hope that he could return to take his proper place in society, despite all of his difficulties and problems. By staying the evening with him, Judge Olivera showed this broken soldier that he believed in him, that he had dignity and that he was worth saving. Continue reading →

Pentecost Sunday –  May 15, 2016

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Working wonders for those who need help in our neighbourhood…

sharelife2In response to operational challenges and funding cuts, agencies continue to explore creative ways of working together and reaching more clients. The first initiative known as “Shared Services” encourages agencies to share back office functions in the areas of human resources, financial management and information technology. The vision for this effort is to strengthen the collaboration of agencies guided by the philosophy of working for the common good. ultimately these administrative and program efficiencies will lead to enhanced organizational capacity, reducing overhead and administrative costs for ShareLife supported agencies.

Next ShareLife Sunday is May 29, 2016 Please give generously. You can work wonders!