We Serve One Another

“As the Body of Christ, We Serve One Another”

(Written by Bethany Eurick for the March 17, 2013, FORUM COVER.)

Traditionally during lent I tend to give something up. This usually means that I go on my annual Lenten diet.  However, I think this “sacrifice” is missing the point.  Lent is the perfect time to think outside our own world and dedicate ourselves to serving others. One way I have been able to serve others is by participating in the Lenten activities offered by the Peace and Justice Committee.

My experiences on the Peace and Justice Committee have helped me look outside of myself and better understand the needs of those around me. For example, participating in the Fair Trade Chocolate Sale helped me understand the importance of using my resources to support both the people around me and people I have never met. Through Lent, Christ is calling me into a deeper relationship with Him and them.  It is through these types of activities offered at St. Francis that I find the true meaning of Lent.

Furthermore, watching the film Sun Come Up and discussing global warming have led me to reflect on the importance of our environment and how our actions can affect fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Lent is a time for me to take a step back and reflect on where I am in my journey with Christ and make a plan to deepen it. Christ even gives us tips to help grow. He tells us in Matthew 25:40, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’' 

Mother Teresa reminds me that “not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”  

Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM
Sustain a House – Fight Poverty… Help a family … Help a community.   Learn more at: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

A Catholic Thing: That Environmental Stewardship Thing

“As the Body of Christ, We Serve One Another”
That Environmental Stewardship Thing & Catholics 
(Written by Ashley Bishel for Forum Cover March 10, 2013.)

Last June, I attended an Environmental Justice service trip Green Bay, WI with an organization called Young Neighbors in Action. During that week, we not only volunteered at a sustainable organic farm called Tsyunhehkwa, which is run by the Oneida Nation, but also learned about why, as Catholics, it is important for us to take care of our planet.

We learned about the Nine Themes of Catholic Environmental Ethic. These included some familiar phrases, such as "respect for life", but applied in a broader context - for example, treating animals as not just a means of human fulfillment but as God's creations. Another theme was "new solidarity" - sacrifice of self interest for the good of others and the earth.

One of the things from that week that stood out to me clearly was a quote from a message John Paul II delivered during the World Day of Peace in 1990: "The ecological crisis is a moral issue". It wasn't something that we have an option to take an interest in, it’s a duty. We have a moral responsibility to take care of God's earth as both Catholics and human beings. That’s huge - environmental issues are not something we can, in good conscience, ignore. We need to take action.


Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

Sustainability Helps the Poor

“Sustainability Helps the Poor”

Habitat puts their low-income home owners' best interests in the forefront of all they do…  

(Written by Kelly Gauthier for inside the FORUM on March 17th, 2013.)

Have you ever had to choose between paying a utility bill and paying for your child’s school trip?  Habitat for Humanity understands that low-income homeowners must often make hard choices in how they spend their money.  That’s why Habitat makes its homes as energy-efficient as possible.  Every dollar a family spends on their utility bill is a dollar they can’t spend on other needs.

The Catholic Church stresses the connection between poverty and climate change.  Some say that worrying about the environment is a rich person’s luxury, but consider:

·         Instead of reducing our consumption and recycling, we choose to buy cheap stuff and then throw it away…but who lives next to the garbage dump?

·         We subsidize polluting industries that devour the earth’s supply of fossil fuels…but who labors in dangerous mines, or lives downwind from coal-fired power plants?

·         We allow fracking companies to poison our water supply…but who can’t afford to buy water when it becomes an expensive, limited resource?

·         Some think that low-income home owners don’t need to worry about energy efficiency…but who’s receiving a shut-off notice in the middle of a winter cold spell?

We could choose to do things differently:

·        Germany currently gets about 25% of its electricity from clean, renewable sources.

·        High school students made sidewalk tiles that generate electricity using electromagnetic induction, showing us that creative thinking and technology can provide lots of renewable energy.

·        Trash sorters in India and South America have formed unions and cooperatives that raised thousands of people out of poverty, while diverting compostable and recyclable materials from landfills.

Despite the warnings from scientists around the globe, despite the calls from our Church leaders, despite the rising human cost of rapidly depleting resources and changing weather patterns, we often resist making changes to our lives of comfort and excess.

The US bishops remind us, “Our religious tradition has always urged restraint and moderation in the use of material goods, so we must not allow our desire to possess more material things to overtake our concern for the basic needs of people and the environment ….  Rejecting the false promises of excessive or conspicuous consumption can even allow more time for family, friends, and civic responsibilities.”

What will you do to help?  Support or volunteer for nonprofit organizations?  Advocate with elected officials?  Make more thoughtful choices in everyday life?

We must recognize that all life is connected and remember that “we don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”. 

Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

Don't Dump It-Donate It!

Don't Dump It-Donate It!

(Written by Andy Nash for inside the FORUM March 10th, 2013.)

            This past summer I assisted a friend in rebuilding his deck, for which he rented a dumpster to haul away the waste to the landfill, which got me interested in just how much of this stuff is going to landfills, and whether there was another option. 

            The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality classifies this type of waste as C&D; Construction and Demolition Waste, and also reports that C&D accounts for 10% of all waste in landfills; waste that never has to make it the landfill in the first place because it can be recycled.  The Habitat for Humanity Restore [http://www.h4h.org/restore/; (734) 822-1530] accepts donations of these C&D materials, as well as home goods, furniture, and appliances.  ReStores provide an environmentally and socially-responsible way to keep good, reusable materials out of landfills.  You can simply drop off your items at our ReStore Warehouse location, at 170 Aprill Dr. in Ann Arbor or contact Vic Whipple at (734) 323-7028 to arrange a pick-up.  NOTE: Habitat ReStore Truck will be at St. Francis, today, March 9th & 10th, 2013, to accept donations.  Please bring your gently-used furniture, small appliances, and household goods to the Habitat ReStore truck.   (Sorry NO clothing or toys or books. These are not accepted.)  Questions? Call Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley ReStore (734.822.1530). Visit:  www.h4h.org/restore/donaterestore/

            It's not only C&D waste, but appliances and furniture that are put into landfills unnecessarily.  There are multiple thrift shops in the area such as the Salvation Army [1621 South State Street, Ann Arbor; (734) 332-3474] and the St. Vincent DePaul Store [1001 Broadway, Ann Arbor (734) 761-1400] that accept all manner of home and personal goods, many of whom offer pick-up from your home.  In addition to re-sale, the local agency Friends in Deed [1196 Ecorse Rd., Ypsilanti; http://www.friendsindeed.info/; (734) 484-2727] accepts furniture, appliances, and beds and bedding to be donated back to those in need in our community, so even those without the means to purchase furniture, even from a thrift shop can have their needs met.  Friends in Deed offers pick-up of donated items from your home, as well as delivery to clients who have no access to a vehicle or the physical ability to pick-up items on their own.  As a long time volunteer and board member I have seen the difference the delivery of just a few items that would have otherwise been thrown away makes in the life of someone in need.

            In addition to helping the environment and helping others in the community, recycling also provides much needed jobs.  According to the Michigan Recycling Coalition 10,000 tons of waste if simply put into a landfill creates one job, whereas recycling this same waste creates 10 jobs.  So in conclusion, the recycling of these C&D materials as well as household items is good for the environment, good for others who are less fortunate, and good for the greater economy as a whole.  Not to mention your personal economy because donations are tax deductible!  So don't dump it- donate it!

Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

Fasting - We Serve One Another

“As the Body of Christ, We Serve One Another” 
(Written by Paul Schwankl for the March 3, 2013 Forum Cover.)

In school many years ago, I roomed with a Jewish Iranian. Because of his religion and nationality, he knew all about the Jewish 24-hour fast on Yom Kippur and the Muslim month-long daytime fast for Ramadan, but he had little acquaintance with Christian practices. So when I told him that Catholics could eat three meals a day when we fasted and that we had only three fast days a year (and Holy Saturday wasn’t obligatory), he rightly thought we were getting off easy. (I’m sure I’d get the same reaction from an Eastern Orthodox Christian; their fasts are complex and very strict.) And after we turn 59, we don’t have to fast at all (except, of course, the one-hour fast prior to Communion).

Still, our prayers at Mass talk of fasting and bodily self denial, echoing the time when every weekday of Lent was a fast day. Maybe the best meaning to take from these prayers, for me, is to use today’s easy fasting rules as signposts toward a broader approach. I try to eat for quality rather than quantity, for example: more organics, more fruits and vegetables, less junk. The results will be that I feel better, live longer, and help the earth. That’s Lenten, isn’t it?

Fundamentally, what we do in Lent really is intended to help us achieve the greater purpose of caring for life and each other. The current efforts to care for the environment are not really new to the Church (just look at our patron, Saint Francis!). In fact, Pope Benedict has been nicknamed the “Green Pope” for frequently speaking on climate change and “greening” the Vatican. Why is the Church doing more these days to care for the environment? Because of its impact on the poor, and because we have a chance to change the future by our actions today. “As the Body of Christ, We Serve One Another!”

Paul Schwankl, parish member

Enjoy continuing to use your Parish LENTEN PROJECT sack and activities calendar to Sustain a House – Fight Poverty… Help a family … Help a community. All money collected will go to sponsor our Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley 2013 Catholic House at: 2143 Merrill, Ypsilanti 48197. Learn more at: StFrancisA2.com/lent 

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

Home Energy - Next Steps - Pros/Cons

Home Energy - Next Steps - Pros/Cons

Like many parents, Kathleen worries about losing her home and what it would mean for her children. Kathleen’s neighbors share the same concerns.  Where will they live?  What will they eat?  How can they make a new life while facing an uncertain future? These friends gather frequently, and often talk about climate change.

Kathleen and her friends are our neighbors, sharing the Catholic faith, the Earth, and the atmosphere. They’re losing their homes because of too much greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere. These neighbors live 8000 miles from Ann Arbor on the Carteret Islands of the South Pacific. Their homes are only a few feet above sea level. Ocean levels are rising because the Earth’s temperature is rising. Salty ocean water contaminates drinking water and kills crops as it washes across the island.  Some of the excess GHG is mine, some is yours.  We released it into the atmosphere.  It wasn’t a malicious or deliberate act.  We can, however choose to do something about tomorrow’s GHG.    

Last June, Meadowlark conducted an energy audit at our home, and we acted on recommendations for air sealing and insulation.  August warmth immediately demonstrated the value of these additions, keeping our upstairs noticeably cooler. Moving from cooling to heating season made the improvements less obvious. Nearby friends made the same improvements and had similar observations, saying they weren’t sure the investment had been worth the effort.

Climate change is both subtle and formidable; data often reveals detail not readily apparent to our senses. Curiosity led me to read my utility meters and collect daily outside temperature information. Knowing the data would provide an answer on the insulation’s value, I compared last winter to this winter. The results were gratifying.

As of February 14, we’ve used 11% less natural gas to heat our home than last winter. Adjusting for this winter’s colder temperatures, the reduction reaches 18%. The improvement isn’t obvious because the thermostat remains set at 66 degrees, just like last winter. Our furnace, however, doesn’t have to operate as often because we sealed air leaks and added insulation!

The 18% improvement means we’ve reduced GHG emissions to the atmosphere by 1,111 pounds. That’s good news for Kathleen in the Carteret Islands and everyone around the globe! Secondly, using less gas for my home’s heating reduced energy costs by $80 this year.

Habitat for Humanity is keenly aware of the benefits associated with energy efficiency. They strive to achieve Energy Star ratings for the homes they build or remodel. Their concern with saving energy emphasizes its importance to everyone on Earth. Equally concerned are the dozens of St. Francis parishioners (including Fr. Jim!) who have requested energy audits for their homes.

The Better Buildings for Michigan program remains available to parishioners until March 31.  Request a $50 energy audit from any of our 4 approved local contractors, Chelsea Lumber (734-475-9126), Ms. Green Construction (877-466-7473), Meadowlark Energy (877-652-7578) and Pro Energy (734-827-1003), and please act on the recommendations! 

As the Body of Christ, we serve one another by caring for all our neighbors, regardless of the distance to their home.  We share one warming planet.  Energy efficient solutions in your home serve neighbors worldwide.    Continue using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices. 

Building Communities & Buying Locally

Building Communities & Buying Locally

Mary Griggs is a local Habitat homeowner who recently paid off her mortgage.  She and her eight children have been happy in their home for almost 20 years.  She says, “Our home felt right as soon as we walked in.  ….despite the inevitable skinned knees and broken hearts of growing up, our lives here would be happier than we’d ever known.”  She expresses deep gratitude to all the volunteers and donors who made her home possible.

Habitat improves the lives of their partner families and has a positive impact on the community.  Decent homes keep a neighborhood strong (especially when renovating empty foreclosures), and Habitat provides additional economic benefits.  In the last year alone, Habitat homeowners paid over $200,000 in taxes to Washtenaw County.  And while some building materials are donated through national corporate partnerships, many are purchased from local vendors.

Why Buy Locally?

Local businesses are an important part a community’s unique character.  And because local business owners live in the community, they are invested in its future.  According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 91% of small business owners volunteer or donate to local causes.  And economic studies have shown that for every $100 spent at a chain store, only $12 circulates back into the local economy; that same $100 spent at a local business re-circulates $45 into the local economy.

Supporting local farmers means you’re getting nutritional produce – fruits and vegetables lose nutrition when shipped hundreds (or thousands) of miles.  It also reduces the carbon footprint involved in transportation, and gives you a chance to know the farmers.

Fair Trade

Finally, buying locally helps ensure your money isn’t contributing to slave labor, unsafe working conditions, or other international human rights violations.  If you do purchase items that are made internationally, look for the Fair Trade Certified™ logo. 

The nonprofit certifying agency, TransFair USA, travels to producer sites at least annually to see that producers get a fair price for their goods, and work in healthy and sustainable conditions.  TransFair also ensures that certified farms have no child slaves working their fields.

The fair trade system guarantees that producers get the financial and educational support to meet their living needs, improve their communities, grow their businesses, and farm with environmentally-friendly practices.

Who knew that our decisions about how we spend our money could have such tremendous implications?   (Written by Kelly Gauthier for inside the FORUM March 3rd. 2013.)

Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices.