Lent 2012 (week 1, Feb 26) FORUM Cover by Brian Kelley

The FORUM Cover Articles during Lent this year are written by fellow St. Francis parishioners about how serving our neighbors in need, especially through Catholic Social Services (CSS) has caused a change of heart for the better.

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I belong to The Friends of Fr. Pat's, a group supporting the mission of The Father Patrick

Jackson House Program. It was my Mother who first got me involved with Fr. Pat's. I started

out as a volunteer, parking cars at the house on football Saturdays to raise money for the

program. A few years later I served on the Board and helped in the transition as Fr. Pat's

became a program of Catholic Social Services. The goal of the program is to help pregnant

and parenting teens of all faiths develop the education and living skills needed to become self

sufficient. This is a difficult task. It takes dedicated, hard working staff and volunteers. It takes

community support and financial resources. When the House was dedicated in April of 1984, a

little over a year after the death of Fr. Patrick Jackson, it really was an act of faith.

Fr. Jackson was a diocesan priest who began his ministry at Ann Arbor St. Thomas in the mid

1960s before serving as the Pastor at Old St. Patrick's in Whitmore Lake from 1971 through

the early 1980s. I first met him when I was a second grader at St. Thomas. He had a very big

impact on me. Now, nearly forty years later, I am working on behalf of a program named in his

memory and trying to put into practice what he taught me about being a part of a community

of faith. He taught me that to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ I needed to practice a living

faith. To me that means helping in whatever way I can to make the world I live in a better

place. I know that if I do this I am a better parent, a better husband and better member of the

community in which I live.

The Friends of Fr. Pat's are hosting a St. Patrick's Day Dinner on March 4th at St. John the Baptist Church in Ypsilanti to raise money for the Fr. Patrick Jackson House Program. For information go to http://csswashtenaw.org or call 734/971-9781, ext. 323.

Lent 2012 (week 1, Feb 26) FORUM Cover by Brian Kelley, member of St. Francis Parish

Neighbors in Need:  Join us in support of our local neighbors who are struggling for food, housing, and care of poverty-stricken elderly.  Our direct service partnership is with Washtenaw Catholic Social Services."    Learn more at:  www.stfrancisa2.com/lent/