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Pope Francis extended the Synod on Synodality through 2024. Bishops will meet in Rome in both October of 2023 and October of 2024. Pope Francis’ decision reflects his desire that the church to discern the theme of synodality over a longer period. Also for the synod to be thought of as a process where (only by the grace of the Holy Spirit) the People of God walk together toward the Lord’s will for His Church. Certainly, the prayerful dialogue of the diocesan phase has created some energy, excitement, and shared vision of a Church that journeys together.

Based on your community feedback and stories, OLG showed strong support to participate in the One Parish One Prisoner (OPOP). Next steps include pairing OLG with our new incarcerated friend, confirming the OLG core team of 7-10 parishioners who receive training tailored to grow a mutual relationship, and paying tuition costs for OPOP training and support. Thank you for your support! You can get involved now by praying. To learn more, contact Martin and Terre at: [email protected] or click title above.

Since June, members of our OLG community have been working to support an Afghan refugee family who arrived in the US as part of the Afghan Allies Welcome operation. We are doing this work under the guidance of the Refugee Resettlement Office of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. The family consists of a young couple with a two-year-old girl and a newborn baby girl (born on July 11th!). The family has an apartment in Tukwila, and the father has a job. CLICK TITLE ABOVE TO READ MORE

Every month, members of our St. Vincent de Paul Conference help our neighbors in need in a variety of ways, including delivering food to their homes. With so many people struggling to make ends meet these days, our pantry shelves are getting low. Please consider donating needed items at Mass or the Pastoral Center: cleaning supplies (laundry detergent, paper towel, sponges), hygiene items (tp, soap, deodorant, etc.), and non-perishable food (pb, jelly, mac & cheese, canned food, pasta, rice, oatmeal, coffee, etc.). Thank you for your continued support! Click above to learn more.

Chicken Soup Brigade helps our homebound, aged, and chronically ill neighbors get groceries and nutritious meals.  OLG is in need of 1-2 volunteers to join our team by September.  Volunteers pick up the food and deliver it to people in need in the West Seattle/White Center area.  Drivers commit to doing deliveries one Thursday afternoon a month on the approximately 2-hr route.  Working in a team provides great flexibility and a chance to build community with others.   Volunteers also receive training and support. Click above to learn more.

This month, OLG screened "Just Mercy" as part of our Summer Film Series.  The movie follows Bryan Stevenson who, after graduating from Harvard, heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or not afforded proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, a black man who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. In the years that follow, Stevenson encounters racism, and legal and political maneuverings in a flawed justice system as he tirelessly fights for McMillian's life.  And the struggle continues today.  Black people wrongly convicted of murder spend an average of three more years in prison than white people- four if they are on death row. Innocent black people spend an average of 16 years on death row before they are exonerated.  Our HEART (Healing, Equity, and Anti-Racism Team) has been learning about Mass incarceration in the U.S and will be launching a One Parish, One Prisoner ministry in the fall.  To learn more about our work and get involved, click above.

The Welcome Table serves lunch to neighbors in need in White Center every Saturday at The Body of Christ Church (1320 SW 102nd St). In addition to the meal, food and supplies are handed out. With the increased cost of living these days, many are turning to food banks and meal programs to supplement their budgets. If you are able, please consider supporting this effort by dropping off donations between 11-11:45am. Needed items include: seasonal men’s work clothes, kids’ clothes, shoes, new socks, underwear, bras, shampoo, deodorant, razors, soap, women’s hygiene pads, laundry pods, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper. Volunteers are also welcome every Saturday from 11-2.

Mary’s Place, a local shelter for women and children, is looking for volunteers to help put on two events for their families. The first is a School’s Out party on June 17th from 4-7pm. Help serve food and assist with a graduation ceremony. The second is a Back-to-School event on August 26 from 4-7pm. Help serve food and assist with various activities. Volunteers must be 16+ or come with a parent/guardian. To volunteer, click above.

We stand in solidarity with the Duwamish people, our neighbors on whose land we live, as they seek to be federally recognized as a tribe in our country. Please keep them in your prayers. CLICK HERE to learn more about this effort.

Join us for a "mini" YMP while the full week is on hold. Graduating 8th graders through seniors are invited to join us from August 5-7 (coming home in the evenings). We will prep the Food Bank in Burlington on Friday, hand out food on Saturday, and have a field experience picking berries in North Bend on Sunday afternoon. Apply by June 1. Click above for more information.

As troops continue to deploy in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Soldiers’ Angels needs immediate support to continue to provide aid, comfort, and resources to the service members that have been called to respond. The invasion into Ukraine marks a moment in history that most of us believed we would never see (or never see again) in our lifetime— the start of war in the European theater. Thousands of American service members have been called to countries like Germany, Poland, Latvia, and Maldova to provide assistance to our European allies. Click above to learn how you can help with the effort to send care packages to our troops.

Our CRS Rice Bowl journey has ended, but our prayers, fasting and almsgiving continue as we seek a closer relationship with God and our global family. Let us hold in our hearts our sisters and brothers in Guatemala, Bangladesh and Rwanda and commit to share our Easter joy with those in our local community and around the world. If you haven’t already done so, remember to turn in your CRS Rice Bowl donations. Click above to see giving options.

Mary's Place's Burien location, one of annual Day of Service sites, has a couple events coming up and could use some volunteer help (ages 16 and up)!. Help them put on a Bingo and Stars Wars night for families on May 4th (May the 4th be with you!) and/or make Mother's Day cards on May 6th. Click above to learn more.

Gather up your hard-to-recycle products and drop them in our new BeautyCycle box in the church. The empty containers will be recycled through Nordstrom’s BeautyCycle program. Click above to learn which items we can take.

As we discern sponsorship of an Afghan refugee family, we invite all to attend a virtual event hosted by St. James Cathedral on Wednesday, April 27th from 6-7pm via Zoom and Facebook.   Over the past 6 months, more than 70,000 Afghans were evacuated and brought to the U.S.  Learn about the history and culture of Afghanistan, hear about the current situation, and better understand how families came to be here and the resettlement issues they face.  Hear from a panel of Afghans and volunteers to learn how to support current needs.  Click above for the Zoom and/or Facebook link to join.

Over the last few years the Catholic community has hosted a series of Immigration Summits focused on advocacy and Catholic Social Teaching, largely focused on allies of the immigrant community. This year, the steering committee has chosen to re-orient the Summit to focus on serving directly impacted communities. If you identify with an impacted immigrant community, please take a quick survey to help guide our planning .  We hope the information gathered in this survey, from the immigrant community, can inform the structure, content, and planning of the forthcoming summit. Click above to access the survey.

As we enter Holy Week, we remember how our Lord suffered and died so that each and every one of us might be saved from sin and have eternal life. Reflect on God’s infinite love for you. How have you responded to that love this Lent, and how can you share it with others? Visit crsricebowl.org to learn more and to find Stations of the Cross you can use for prayer during this Holy Week. Remember to turn in your Rice Bowl at the Holy Thursday Mass or at OLG School. Please convert coins to cash or checks (made out to “OLG” with “Rice Bowl” in the memo). Our counters thank you! Click above to learn how to give online.

Thank you to the 186 volunteers who signed up for our 9th Annual Day of Service. We served at 11 different sites in the region and also contributed donations to 16 additional organizations, including 20 lunches for AIDNW, 400 sandwiches for Operation Nightwatch, 110 Care Kits, 11 Rice Bowl meal kits, 21 Welcome baskets for Mary’s Place, 47 blankets and crafts for Children’s Hospital, 108 mats and toys for Seattle Humane Society, 45 paracord bracelets for Operation Gratitude, and 38 care bags for our homebound parishioners! We especially thank David Lindholm/Boar’s Head and Leschi Market for their generous donations of meats and cheeses that helped make our sandwiches possible. We appreciate everything everyone did to make this day possible, including our incredible volunteer leadership team: Karen, Colette, Marlo, Catherine, and Molly! Save the Date for the 2023 Day of Service coming up on March 25!

Hunger impacts millions of women, men and children around the world. Throughout Lent we have encountered communities in Guatemala, Bangladesh and Rwanda that are overcoming this problem so their members can have brighter futures. How is your community working to address hunger or other injustices locally and globally? Visit crsricebowl.org to learn more.  Check out the Stations of the Cross resources to deepen your Lenten journey. 

In his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis writes, “The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community.” As we look to the future in the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Lord is calling us to this openness and creativity. We face immediate and long-term challenges that call us to move beyond the familiar and the comfortable. These challenges also provide an opportunity for us to grow in our life in Jesus Christ, to accompany one another on the journey of faith, and to live the joy of the Gospel each day CLICK TO READ MORE