Sept. 17 -- Each Saturday morning, the weekly harvest from the St. Ann's Garden of Faith, the Piermont Community Garden, and home gardens of parishioners is distributed at the St. Ann's Food Pantry.
This summer we have been blessed with a very abundant harvest of leafy green vegetables, beans, tomatoes, peppers, corn, and herbs. Thanks to all who make this work of mercy happen.
Photo by Denise Oswald. For more photos, click here.
St. Ann's Food Cupboard volunteers with the newly donated shopping carts.
Aug. 22 -- Well, look what turned up outside the back doors of St. Ann's School! Shopping carts!
Last week the St. Ann's Food Cupboard, which operates out of the school, reached out in the Sunday bulletin requesting donations of folding shopping carts to help the Cupboard's older clients carry their bags of food home. And voila! By this Sunday about a half dozen carts had appeared.
Thank you so much to the anonymous donors who dropped off the much-needed carts. You've supplied the practical element that compassion needs to make good works happen. Anyone who has ever schlepped a heavy, plastic grocery bag any distance, especially in the summer, can understand how much our older neighbors appreciate your help.
More carts, used or new, are needed. If you can provide one, please drop it off at the porch of St. Ann's Rectory, next to the church.
Pilgrims from St. Paul's and St. Ann's prepare to enter through the Jubilee Year of Mercy Holy Doors
at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point.
May 23 -- The parish of St Paul-St Ann celebrated this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy by making a pilgrimage to the Holy Doors at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point, on Saturday, May 14. As a community of pilgrims, we crossed the threshold together and entered into a grace-filled encounter with Mercy.
For more photos of the pilgrimage, please see the "Photo Albums" section below. Double-click on a photo to enlarge it and then scroll through the slide show.
April 11 -- You’ll never know where you’ll find one. Those little pockets of “two or three gathered together,” who without fanfare, fuss, or formal mission statements go about doing God’s work.
They must have very special ears – hearing God’s whisper about what He needs. And then, they step up and somehow make it happen. But very quietly. You’d hardly know they’re there.
One example here at St. Ann’s is the good work of Phyllis Chalsen and her friends.
Bustling into church on Sunday morning, you can easily overlook the only sign of their busy mini-ministry. But it’s right there, at the back of the church, on the floor against the last pew. It’s one of those blue plastic recycling containers with a handwritten yellow sign that reads “Clothing for the Homeless. Thank You.”
For years, Phyllis has been collecting good, used clothes and making sure the donations find their way to the needy and homeless who come to the Interfaith Breakfast Program in Spring Valley, where she’s volunteered for 20 years.
On Saturday mornings, she sets up a table of clothing items in St. Ann’s cafeteria and makes them available to our Nyack neighbors who come to pick up groceries at the Food Cupboard.
Now all this may sound relatively simple. But think about the logistics.
All those donated clothes have to go from the church to the car to Phyllis’ home, where they’re sorted and stored in bins in her garage. Soon they’re loaded into the car again, and they’re back on the road en route to Spring Valley or the Food Pantry, where they have to be organized for distribution there. Sometimes badly needed items like underwear (new) must be solicited and hats and gloves purchased from the Dollar Store. It’s a lot of work.
But that’s the commitment you make when you decide to “own” a problem. You do whatever it takes.
And often doing “whatever it takes” is just another name for sacrifice, the kind of sacrifice without which there would be no gifts: the comfort of a warm coat, the dignity of a pair of gently-used jeans, the consolation of hope that comes when you realize someone cares.
March 19 – The late return of snow and blustery, wintery weather this week reminds us that it can be tough out there, especially for those who are hungry and have no place to go.
But each night of the winter season, a coalition of 20 Rockland houses of worship made sure that one of its churches, synagogues, or mosques was open to receive the homeless. This group is called Helping Hands Safe Haven, and St. Ann’s Church has been involved with the program since its inception 10 years ago.
Eight times this winter, parish volunteers have provided a good, hot meal and overnight shelter for over 30+ guests each night in the school cafeteria.
It takes a team of about 40 to make this happen for each block of days St. Ann’s hosts the homeless. Parishioners serve as drivers, cooks, and overnighters.
St. Paul’s-St. Ann’s is blessed to have such generous and supportive volunteers, and there will be a Mass of Thanksgiving for their efforts on Sunday, April 24, at 9 am at St. Ann’s Church. Everyone is welcome.
'FEED OUR NEIGHBORS' PROJECT
The St. Ann’s School of Religion also was busy helping to feed the hungry this past Lent with their drive to restock the shelves of the church Food Cupboard.Jan. 31 -- "Catholic Education is inherently a Work of Mercy." These words from a petition from the opening mass of Catholic School Week are borne out in a bulletin board display in the hallway of St. Paul's School in Valley Cottage. God bless all those who lead our children in the way of Faith.
Sister Anne Catherine, O.P., of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, has called education a work of mercy "because it extends God's love in the world. It is a mercy for teachers to offer their students solid content knowledge and to teach them skills that will help them go forward and take their place in the world."
But it is especially important, she said "that teachers help students experience the wonder in learning about God's created world and in discovering how deeply they are loved . . . In particular, teachers and catechists who are involved in fostering the gift of faither in others exercise a great work of mercy, for its impact can be eternal."
Jan 18 -- After mass, parishioners stopped at the table staffed by workers from the Corona Self Help Center to purchase Our Lady of Guadalupe T-shirts and make donations. The Center helps victims of substance abuse and their families by providing recovery programs free of charge.