April 19, 2009

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

Can you feel it? Spring has arrived at last. I love this time of year. This afternoon Pat and I drove on a Finger Lakes mini tour with our friend Patricia Fazzone. Patricia, a wonderful spirituality educator from Boston gave an intergenerational presentation on the poetry and life-ministry of a young man named Mattie Stepanek this morning after the 9 a.m. Mass. In
spite of struggling with a rare form of dystrophy which claimed his life at age 14. Mattie had (and continues to have) a great impact on the lives of all who have read his poetry. www.mattieonline.com

Tomorrow, Fr. Jim and I will join priests and pastoral administrators from throughout the Diocese of Rochester at the annual Convocation with Bishop Matthew Clark. Because of my upcoming retirement, this convocation (which will take place at the Statler Hotel in Ithaca) will be may last. It is always good to spend time with my fellow pastoral administrators and the priests of our diocese. It has been such a privilege to serve with them and to attend this annual gathering with our Bishop.

Thanks to those of you who wrote to say they enjoyed my brief video on the baptism of my grandson Jackson. In case you missed it last week, here's another chance to witness one of the highlights of my life. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6sAjnXiuLk

For those who have been following my personal journey into a healthier life . . . . as of last Wednesday, I've shed 35 pounds and my three member YMCA Weight Loss Challenge Team has lost a total of over 85 pounds. The final weigh in will take place on May 8, but I hope to keep losing through my June 30th retirement date.

My column this weekend contains some rather startling facts about poverty in Steuben County where my parish is located. Much of this information was gathered long before the US economy went south. Lord have mercy.

May God's great love embrace you and all you love during the Easter season.
Deacon Ray

Recently, Father Jim and I met with Laura Opelt, Andy Mazzella and Bob Colomaio at Catholic Charities Turning Point. The topic of our meeting was the extent of poverty in Steuben County. Although I’ve lived in this county for almost thirty years, and knew that, (aside from the City of Corning, and the nearby Village of Painted Post,) few places within Steuben County could boast a significant number of people that would be considered - well off, the information we received still shocked me.

Did you know that . . . ?
· In Steuben county one in ten families, (13,000 people) are living on incomes below the federal poverty guidelines. Thousands more are living just above these guidelines, and are struggling.
· One in five children in Steuben County lives in poverty.
· One out of every two families living in poverty in Steuben County are headed by a single woman with children under five years of age. That is five times the rate of married couple families.
· Four in ten families headed by a single woman live in poverty.
· 34% of all people living in poverty are children.
· 50% of the people helped by Catholic Charities Turning Point are employed or under-employed, and earn less than $10,000 per year. An individual working full time making minimum wage only earns $14,872 per year.
· Over half of the families living in poverty have one family member working full time but not as a livable wage.

According to federal guidelines living in poverty is when the income of a family of four is earning $20,614 or less. To put this in perspective, the average poor family spends:
$5,756 for basic shelter
$2,656 for utilities and public services
$5,330 for a used car, gasoline and maintenance to get to work, grocery shopping and child care.
$4,054 for food
$2,329 for health and medical care
$2,600 for child care (even with a subsidy)

That’s $2,121 over budget before you add any other items such as school supplies, shoes, clothes, holiday gifts, education, life insurance, furnishings, recreation, cleaning supplies, entertainment, and birthday gifts.

Governor Patterson is proposing to increase the public assistance grant by 10% per year for 3 years. But this is the first increase in 18 years. According to published reports, the typical recipient of public assistance funds in New York State receives benefits for two years or less. Current figures are not available for Steuben County.

So what effect does poverty have on family life?
A report by the Bookings Institute points out the severe negative impacts of poverty families.
· Higher rates of illness and accidents
· Housing in unsafe neighborhoods
· Greater chance of dying from illness and accidents
· Increased crime and incarceration

Inadequate health care, diminished brain development in children, lack of readiness for school and sadly a lifetime of reduced opportunity.

What are the costs of poverty on society?
· Higher health care
· More jails and prisons
· More homeless facilities
· More intensive education programs
· Fewer contributing to the tax base.

What are the costs of poverty on Catholic Charities and Schools?

· Since November ’08 Catholic Charities Food Pantries have experienced a 26% increase of households served. An average of 1200 people a month. Other pantries, including the Corning Community Food Pantry, reported similar results.

· 50% of students in Steuben County are eligible for free or reduced fee breakfasts and lunches.

Each month, St. Mary’s contributes 4% of our collection income directly to Catholic Charities Turning Point. We do this even though we ourselves have been struggling to pay our rapidly rising utility bills, insurance premiums while donations have flattened due to the economy. We do this because Christ gave a preferential option to the poor and the Catholic social teaching challenges us to do the same.

We are also supporting the upcoming Spaghetti Dinner that will benefit Turning Point. The fund-raising dinner will take place on Saturday, May 9 from 5 - 7 p.m. in O’Malley Hall and hope you will do the same.

Before my retirement in July, I hope that we can bring the economic challenges facing Steuben County into clearer light and find new ways of helping Catholic Charities fund the import work it does in advocating for the working poor and their children.

Next weekend, both Maureen O’Neill and I will use the pulpits of St. Gabriel’s and St. Mary’s to answer your questions concerning the CSCP Pastoral Plan recently approved by Bishop Matthew Clark. The plan includes clustering the two parishes under a single pastoral leader by July 2010 and merging the two parishes into a single parish with two worship sites by July 2012.

Thanks for all who helped make our Triduum and Easter services so beautiful.

Have a great week. Serve one another well.

Deacon Ray

Lands of the Bible Cruise

On November 11, 2009, you are invited to join Deacon Ray and Pat Defendorf and pastoral leaders from throughout the Diocese on a twelve-day Cruise to the “Lands of the Bible”.

Our itinerary includes an over-night flight to Athens where we will visit the Acropolis and the biblical city of Corinth before boarding the mv Cristal, a new 471 passenger cruise ship. We’ll dock at Port Said for a visit to Cairo (the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids at Giza) then on to the port of Ashod in Israel. For two days we’ll visit sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem returning to the ship each evening for dinner and overnight.

Our next port is Haifa where we’ll disembark to tour the Galilee with stops at the Mount of the Beatitudes, Tabgha (the site of the miracle of the loaves and fish), a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and renew our baptismal vows at the Jordan River.

After a day at sea we’ll visit the Isle of Patmos where John wrote Revelations and then to Ephesus, Turkey where St. Paul established a Christian community on his first missionary journey. After a visit to Piraeus we’ll return to Athens for our return trip home.

The price of this journey of a lifetime(including roundtrip airfare, chartered cruise ship, guided shore excursions, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner while aboard ship, study guide, entrance fees and deluxe motorcoaches), starts at $2398 plus taxes, tips and fees.

Follow this link to download our itinerary:
http://www.deaconray.com/travel.htm

This cruise is expected to sell out so early reservations are very important. For more information and a brochure, please contact me by email or phone (607-426-1100).

Serve one another well!

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Bulletin: April 19,2009