A New Years thank you . . .
Our Evangelization ministry has expanded to Pittsburgh, PA, this year with the arrival of our brothers Ross Henley, OFM Cap., and Matt Hindelang, OFM Cap. From 2017-2020, our Province undertook an expansion of our friary residence and chapel in the Lawrenceville section of the city while constructing new buildings to house our Provincial offices, our Assembly Hall (now called Hyacinth Epp Hall) and a home for the local food pantry/Meals on Wheels services.
An important part of that construction was to provide space for our new initiative: our Pittsburgh Evangelization Ministry. Br. Ross and Br. Matt recently updated us on what they've been up to, and as the New Year begins, we share with you the grace and goodness they've witnessed in these months and their prayers and hopes for the future.
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Br. Ross and I first moved to Pittsburgh six months ago and prepared to find our place in how we can best bring the Good News to everyone, especially young adults in the area. We were excited to find so much energy already existing in the Catholic community, and how quickly we were embraced by all of you as we began our new mission. Your energy and active ministries were a great inspiration to us as we found our footing.
We have made a lot of friends at several events, and we wanted to give a shout out to each of them as a way of acknowledging how much it has meant to us.
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The Friday morning Mass and coffee at St. Stanislaus has been a favorite event of ours. On our way back to the friary, we often comment how much we love this ministry because of simple events and the great people we meet. The same goes for our Wednesday night gatherings, divided between the bonfire at St. Raphael’s and the book study at Our Lady of Angels. These relationships with local parish groups also led us to simple things like an All Souls Day rosary walk, and a pro-life Mass.
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We met with some of the great organizations already evangelizing in various ways in the Diocese. These included Dry Bones Ministries, a diocese-wide outreach that shares our goal of evangelization. We were also blessed to spend some time with the Vagabond Missionaries who do inspiring work with inner-city youth, providing both bodily and spiritual nourishment. Our neighbors just across the street, Renew the I Do, work with married and dating couples and individuals. We have also been able to volunteer with The Red Door who provides daily meals to the poor, and acts as a warming shelter in these winter months as well as caring in other ways. We're looking forward to strengthening these relationships.
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Frassati Pittsburgh is another active Catholic group. They follow in the footprints of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. He was an avid mountaineer and athlete who had a great love for, identified with, and served the poor. Very Franciscan qualities, but he was a Third Order Dominican (and we won’t hold that against him). They’ve welcomed us to several events, including hiking, a day of service at Mary’s Place, and most recently a holy hour followed by ice skating. It's been a great way to meet new people and build closer friendships.
So we began . . .
Once we became better acquainted, some of you were willing to come and check out our place and give some thoughts about what we can potentially offer. We ended up having several group meetings, each one brought new insights into our potential outreach.
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With firmer footing, a better sense of the local scene and a larger group of friends, Ross and I hosted our first events. Our first P3 (Prayer, Penance and _ ) happened in October with Pumpkins. Our P3 in November was Packing and created 200 blessing bags for Red Door ministries. All that, only possible by your time and generous donations.
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We ended the year on Saturday, December 19th, hosting a Living Nativity in the Spirit of St. Francis. Francis created the first nativity scene to glimpse at a God who entered our world as a helpless child in very humble circumstances. All of us have been commissioned to proclaim the Good News of great joy, just as the angels did to the shepherds.
Once again, thank you so much for all that you do, and thank you for the warm welcome to Pittsburgh.
May God bless all of you and bring you Christmas joy in the new year!
Br. Matt
& Br. Ross