The First Meeting of the St Mary Job Search Support Group
-->In the Meeting Room in the Rectory Basement
-->Topic of the Night: Networking for Results
Greetings!
Father Donahue addressed the issue of unemployment and under employment in his Message to St Mary Parish this past weekend.
In the message he talks about the formation of our job support group and his hope that it will provide a viable venue for support and networking. I am confident that this ministry will bring value to all that participate.
Father's message is below.
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Dear Friends:
This Monday we mark the annual celebration of Labor Day, which has come to be associated with the end of the summer, the beginning of school, and the onset of the regular pace of life with the fall season. Labor Day can be traced in its current form to 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed legislation establishing it as a federal holiday. Other societies around the world observe a day of celebration for workers usually on May 1, a day which is popularly known as “May Day.” In the Church May 1 is celebrated as the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. In the United States, however, the date for Labor Day was set as the first Monday in September owing to the great emphasis that Communist countries placed on a festive observance of May Day.
These are difficult times for laborers, and for business in general. The national economy has been stagnant, essentially flat, for the past several years and recovery has been slow. The unemployment rate hovers around 7.5% and many claim that it is, in fact, much higher since the government does not take into account the numbers of those who have stopped looking for work when it compiles statistics for purposes of computing the unemployment rate.
Work is essential to human life and to human progress, as Blessed John Paul II noted in his encyclical Laborem Exercens. Work is not optional, but critical. More than that, human labor is, v on a spiritual level, a direct and concrete participation in the ongoing work of God who continually is busy with the work of creation.
Here at St. Mary’s, as elsewhere, there are, to be sure, a significant number of parishioners who are either unemployed or underemployed. Such a situation can be stressful as bills pile up and financial pressures increase. The sense of idleness and incompleteness can be devastating. With that in mind, we are in the process of establishing a support group for the unemployed and underemployed. Andrew Ancel will coordinate and lead this group. It will serve as an opportunity, once a month to start, for those out of work or working only part-time to come together for mutual support and networking. It can be helpful to know that you parishes in the Archdiocese have had such support groups and they have proven to be very beneficial. Indeed, one parish, St. Ann in Avon, has had such a group for almost twenty years. Watch the bulletin for details on the organizational and informational meeting. I fully support the establishment of this support group and it is my hope that it will prove to be helpful in at least several ways. I thank Andy Ancel for his willingness to serve as first coordinator and convener of this group.
A reminder: Mass for Labor Day, Monday, September 2, will be celebrated at 9:00 AM. There will be no 7:00 AM Mass on that day.
Rev. Aidan N. Donahue
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Check back again soon for updates!
Thanks for visiting!
Andy
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