OPERATION STARFISH NEWSLETTER
April, 2005
Dear Friends of Operation Starfish:
Pope John Paul II is on our minds and in our hearts as we join in prayer…
Father, eternal shepherd, hear the prayers of your people for your servant John Paul II, who governed your Church with love. In your mercy bring him with the flock entrusted to his care to the reward you have promised your faithful servants. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Karol Wojtyla
16.X.1978 - 2.IV.2005
POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE POOR
"Wherever the Pope went, he spoke for the poor and his voice was respected. It is not just the position that matters, but also the person who occupies that position. This great man met all the qualities of having the right frame of mind." Dr. Kenneth D. Kaunda, President of Zambia, speaking on the occasion of the death of the pope, also said that John Paul II had understood and appreciated the concerns of the poor and troubled masses of the world.
Dr. Kaunda said the vulnerable people would suffer the worst injustices now that the protective voice of the Pope had gone. He also said the late Pope had the courage to take on any authority that had inflicted pain on the poor and troubled masses in the world.
Throughout his years as Pope, John Paul II called on Christians "to open our eyes to the poverty of many."
Lent, 1988 – Lent, 1998: The Pope and Starfish
The spring of 1988 saw
Pope John Paul II focus his Lenten message on the poor. Some ten years
later, in the spring of 1998, Fr. Richard Martin, pastor of
In his Lenten message for 1988, Pope John Paul II used as a theme the words of the Gospel of Matthew: "Come, O blessed of my Father, for I was poor, marginalized and you welcomed me," The Pope expressed the wish that the 1988 Lenten season "become the occasion for each Christian to experience poverty with the Son of God and to be an instrument of His love in the service of those in need." (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, “The Social Concern of the Church” , December 30, 1987 [issued February 19, 1988])
According to Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of Cor Unum, the Pope in 1988 encouraged initiatives to again give hope to the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the marginalized within the context of a renewed and vigorous proclamation of the Gospel.
[Cor Unum, the Pontifical Council for Human and Christian Development, is the Vatican organization responsible for expressing "the care of the Catholic Church for the needy, thereby encouraging human fellowship and making manifest the charity of Christ" (Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus, art. 145).]
Ten years later, Fr. Martin was struggling with the idea of Lenten sacrifice. How, he wondered, could his parishioners make a meaningful sacrifice that would benefit the poor? That’s when the original Starfish idea came to his mind. What if each family in the parish gave up one food item per day, yielding 50 cents? With 2,500 families saving 50 cents per day for the 40 days of Lent, some $50,000 could be applied to relieve the suffering of the poor.
And the rest
is history. During Lent, 1998, Nativity parishioners gave $67,000,
enough to build 27 houses in
Housing a Priority for the Pope, and for Operation Starfish
In another interesting parallel, the Pope pointed to lack of housing as one of the most important aspects of poverty. In his 1988 Lenten message, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul II said,
“Among the specific signs of underdevelopment which increasingly affect the developed countries also, there are two in particular that reveal a tragic situation. The first is the housing crisis. During this International Year of the Home, as proclaimed by the United Nations, attention is focused on the millions of human beings lacking adequate housing or with no housing at all, in order to awaken everyone's conscience and to find a solution to this serious problem with its negative consequences for the individual, the family and society.”
Nativity’s first project in
This Pope leaves a lengthy legacy. In his first public proclamation he told us “Do not be afraid.” Over the next 26 years, he spoke to us of faith, of unity, of social responsibility, of love. But mostly, through how he lived his life, how he made the entire world his parish, he showed us how to love each other, gently, fully, forgivingly.
For those of us associated with Operation Starfish, we have received a special inspiration from Pope John Paul II. We have his lasting and loving encouragement to follow the command of Jesus, expressed in Matthew 25:
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ ”
(Matthew 25:40)
LENT 2005 –
With gifts still
filling the Operation Starfish basket every Sunday,
Nativity’s goal
of providing a decent house for every one of the 500 families in
The funds raised
in this year’s Operation Starfish campaign at
OVER 200 STARFISH PROJECTS UNDERWAY
During Lent, 2005, more than 200 churches and schools conducted Operation Starfish fundraising projects. Here is a partial list. Can you find yours?
Sacred
Heart Catholic Church Our Lady Queen of Peach Our Lady of
St. Mark Lutheran Church
Emmanuel United Methodist St. Rose of All Saints Episcopal Church
St. Andrew
Holy Spirit Episcopal Church First United
St. Stanislaus School St. Martin of
Christ Episcopal Church Blessed Church of the Good Shepherd and Day
School St. Mary’s Church
St. Anne Episcopal Church St. Peter and St. Luke’s in the Sacred Church of the Epiphany St. Lawrence Catholic Church
St. Philip the Church of the Resurrection All Saints/St. Joseph Church St. Mark’s Episcopal Church St. Mary’s, Our Lady of the
All Saints Episcopal Church
Christ Episcopal Church
Asbury United
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church St. Henry’s Catholic Church St. Mary of St. Mark the Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Holy Name of St. Christopher’s School St. Germaine School
First Presbyterian Church St. Anthony De
St. Francis Borgia School
St. Alban Roe School St. Jeanne De Lastonnac School
Presentation of
All Saints School St. Catherine of
|
St.
Elizabeth of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church
Bedington United
St. Francis of Christ Episcopal Church
Our Lady of Peace
Southridge Reformed Church Immaculate
First Presbyterian Church
Our Lady of Peace Catholic All Saints Episcopal Church
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
St. Peter’s Church Christ the St. Francis of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Shepherd of the St. Timothy’s
Our
St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church St. Michael’s Catholic Church
St. Mary (St. Rose) Church Christ the Trinity Episcopal Church St. Peter Lutheran Church Christ Episcopal Church Chapel Hill Fellowship United
St. Michael’s School St. Luke’s Episcopal Church St. Maximilian Kolbe Church Prince of
Immaculate Beautiful St. Luke’s Our Savior’s Our Lady of
Our Lady of St. Philomene School
St. Peter Martyr School St. Vincent’s
Our Lady of the
Our Lady of Blessed |
St. Gregory the Great St. Catherine Drexel
St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran St. Michael’s Catholic Church St. Michael’s Church St. Mary the Virgin St. Peter Catholic Church St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
Trinity Episcopal Church Church of the Nativity St. Maria Goretti Redwine United Methodist
VASA Evangelical Lutheran Lord of Christ Episcopal Church First Congregational Church
Assembly of Emmanuel Episcopal Church
St. Francis of First United St. Luke Lutheran Church Good Shepherd Episcopal Church Immanuel United
St. Maria Goretti Church
Gethsemane United First United Incarnation Catholic Church
St. Edward’s Episcopal Church Blessed Sacrament
SS. Cosmas and Multiple Schools in Our Lady of St. Wenceslaus School Church of the Holy Nativity St. Michael’s School Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church St. Gregory the Great School
St. Stephen the
St. Francis Episcopal Church St. Francis De
St. Robert Bellarmine School
Immaculate
Notre Dame School Our Lady of
St. Angela Merici School St. Olaf Lutheran Church |
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WE WELCOME A NEW WEBMASTER
For the last
several years we have been blessed with the assistance of Maggie Fisher,
who built our web site from the beginning and kept it up to date and visually
attractive. Maggie is relocating to
Joining us as webmaster is Kathleen Finnegan, USAF Ret., a technical whiz and a good person. Kathleen welcomes your suggestions at info@starfishmission.org.
Visit us at www.starfishmission.org .
For information
on Food For The Poor’s programs in
CLOSING THOUGHT…
“Of all the impressions that Pope John Paul II had upon me, the highlight will be his act of forgiveness to the man who attempted to kill him on May 13, 1981. He did not send a letter, he did not send an emissary, and he did not offer forgiveness from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica… Instead, he drove to the prison and met his assailant face to face, offered him forgiveness and gave him the kiss of peace. How well he imitated Jesus offering forgiveness as he hung on his cross.”
---Fr. Richard Martin, April 10, 2005
God Bless You…
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STARFISH MISSION NEWSLETTER (Vol. IV, Issue 1), Apr., 2005: 0504newsltr
Edited this month by Jim McDaniel (info@starfishmission.org)
OPERATION STARFISH: MAKING A DIFFERENCE, ONE PERSON AT A TIME
As a young boy walked the beach at dawn, he noticed an old man ahead of him picking up starfish and tossing them into the sea. Catching up with the man, the boy asked why he was doing this. The old man explained to the boy that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.
“But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish,” exclaimed the boy. “How can your effort make any difference?”
The old man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it safely into the waves. He turned to the boy and said, “It made a difference to that one.”
--Based on the writing of Loren Eiseley