Service and Outreach – Page 5 – St. John – St. Paul Catholic Collaborative

Adult Clothing Drive for St. Francis House: June 21-22

The clothing program at St. Francis house is the only free clothing distributor for adults experiencing homelessness and poverty in the greater Boston area. Every spring our Collaborative supports this program as a collective force. Your generosity is greatly appreciated by the thousands of people who rely on St. Francis House during their most challenging times.

Items may be dropped off between the hours of 9:00am – 5:00pm at both the St. John and St. Paul garages on the weekend of June 21-22.

Items we Need!

Two categories of adult clothing are needed. All should be gently used (or new), clean, and in good condition, please…

An Update from Our Friends at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH)

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) supports over 9,000 vulnerable children and adults annually in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Not only do we provide support to the children that live with us, but we also support children and families living in the community through our community outreach programs.

In Guatemala, 55% of the population lives in poverty with over 68% of the country’s child population living in poverty. This number jumps even higher for the country’s indigenous population, with 80% of indigenous group members living in poverty.

In 2022 in the city of Chimaltenango, NPH opened the Father William Wasson Family Center to better support the indigenous children and families, many of single parents, living in the community…

A BIG Thank You from Pregnancy Help Boston!

Our annual Mother’s Day Baby Shower was once again a rousing success! On the weekend of May 10-11, our Collaborative community showed up in a big way and showered the mothers of Pregnancy Help Boston with an abundance of blessings to help as they nurture the gift of life. The overflowing pack-n-plays in each church’s foyer was a visual reminder of our community’s abundant generosity…

A special thanks for the hand-knitted items – many of the women who come to Pregnancy Help are alone, so to have such a unique and special item for their baby, knitted with love in magnificent colors, is a very special gift!

Turning Dreams into Reality: An Important Update on Our Collaborative Lenten Gift

We have been the grateful recipients of the outstanding Pastoral Ministry of Fathers Gabriel, Lesley and James… The mission of building a church in their local community in Cameroon was a tangible way to make a difference in the lives of the growing population of Catholic Christians.

And BUILD THE FAITH has a special connection with our Collaborative, as it was inspired by the unwavering faith in God exhibited by Christina Dangond Lacouture, a young girl from our parish who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at the tender age of 6…

It also inspired us to set an unprecedented goal of $100,000 for our gift…

Ignatian Volunteer Corps: A Meaningful Path in Retirement

The Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) New England offers a unique opportunity for retired or semi-retired individuals to use their skills, wisdom, and experience to serve communities in need. Through part-time service and reflection in the Ignatian tradition, IVC members build community, engage in work that matters, and embrace this next chapter in life with renewed vitality.

IVC connects adults 50+ with social service nonprofits, allowing them to make a meaningful impact while deepening their own sense of purpose and spirituality. New England Ignatian Volunteers ordinarily commit to two days per week of service in parishes, schools, or nonprofit organizations working directly with those experiencing poverty or marginalization, or in the pursuit of social justice. The service commitment takes place over a ten-month period…

THIS WEEKEND, May 10-11! Baby Shower to Support “Pregnancy Help Boston”

This weekend our Collaborative is hosting a “Baby Shower” to collect items for Pregnancy Help Boston, a pregnancy resource center supported through the Archdiocese of Boston, whose mission is to provide compassionate, practical, life-affirming alternatives for women facing crisis pregnancies…

Would you consider providing a *NEW* item from the “registry” below for our Collaborative Baby Shower for Pregnancy Help Boston? See below…

May 7: NPH “Pints for Pequeños” Event in Boston and Online Silent Auction

Join the NPH USA East Coast Associate Board for Pints for Pequeños, at Harpoon Brewery in Boston on May 7, 2025 from 7-8:30pm.

Enjoy unlimited 5 ounce pours of Harpoon beers and ciders on tap, appetizers and snacks while learning about NPH and bidding on exciting silent auction items. Tickets are $45 per person, must be 21 or over to attend – REGISTER HERE!

Even if you can’t attend the event, you can still support NPH through their East Coast Silent Auction 2025, which is open now and closes Wednesday evening at 8:00pm.

Partakers College Behind Bars Mentoring: We’re Looking for a Few Good Mentors!

Zoom Info Session Thursday, May 1, 2025, 6 PM – 7:15 PM
For over three decades, the Partakers College Behind Bars Mentoring Program has changed lives by matching teams of volunteer mentors with incarcerated individuals enrolled in college degree programs based in MA prisons. Partakers mentors develop transformative helping relationships with College Behind Bars students and support their mentees as they navigate the academic and personal challenges of pursuing higher education in the prison setting.

We now have six SJSP mentors and it would be great to get another team of 4! Please join us to hear about Partaker’s powerful mentoring program…

Lenten Gift Story Part 3: The Connections

When Fr. Gabriel arrived in the St. John-Paul II community in Bamenda, the people had no place to worship together and were hanging on by a thread. He told himself, “We must have a church here.” The people asked him, “Father, how can we have a church here? We have no land, we have nothing.” He answered, “We just pray. God will show us a way.” Fr. Gabriel told them to look for anything – any building, any place someone offers to start their church. A family came to him and said, “Father, we have a piece of land, and a chicken coop…”

So they cleared out the chickens, cleaned up the building, and started their church. Even this seemed like a small miracle, despite the fact that half of the large and growing congregation had to remain outside during Mass. They continued to dream of and pray for the proper church they would build someday – even if it took 30-40-50 years – where the whole community would be able to worship in together…

Lenten Gift Story Part 2: The Catholic Church in Bamenda, Cameroon

Christianity is the dominant religion in Cameroon (about two-thirds of the population), with Roman Catholics making up more than half of the Christian population. Cameroon faces numerous crises that threaten its social fabric, which are rooted in the country’s colonial history…

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, who stayed with us and celebrated Mass at St. Paul Church last year while in the U.S. visiting the scholar priests from his diocese, said, “My churches are all bursting, and I don’t have space to keep the young people… and my shortest Mass would be about two and a half hours.”

Against this backdrop is Build the Faith’s new church project in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, the home diocese of Fr. Gabriel and Fr. Lesley… Both have spoken about the needs of these flourishing faith communities to have physical spaces to worship and to serve as centers of community in these unstable areas…