Christmas Morning

This morning around 8 a.m., a fine group of St. E's parish members arrived at Fifth Street Baptist Church Hall to help prepare and serve a Christmas Breakfast for a group of about 30 men who had been staying in their spacious auditorium for the holidays through the Caritas program. It was good to be there with them.

The St. E's group was led by Lucy Thompson who, working with a group from Fifth Street Baptist, had gathered us together to be part of this event. Our group consisted of men, women and young people and we were all eager to be of service this Christmas morning. We scrambled eggs; we chopped, diced and mixed the ingredients for salmon cakes; we fixed coffee and poured orange juice. We stirred the grits and served them; we fixed potatoes and delicious sausages with peppers and onions. The big country biscuits and the grits were popular with everyone and several men returned for seconds. It was heartwarming to be able to serve folks less fortunate than we are on this most festive and beautiful holy day. It was good to be there.

For those St. E's folks who were unable to be there in person this morning but wanted to; or sent along foods or funds to help out, I will tell you that there will surely be other opportunities like this one. I bet that when our folks drove home this morning they felt very grateful for what they have been given; and for what they gave of themselves today.
And our God looked down at our gift and saw that it was good.

Former Parishioners and Friends Respond

Not all our donations were made by strangers; indeed some of the most gratifying letters came from former parishioners and friends who wrote about their connection with St. Elizabeth's. Here are more excerpts from letters so far received:

..."Hope this will help the church where I was baptized 77 years ago. I served Mass there from about age 7-15 and was married there on 4/14/56..."

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..."I grew up in the Northside and have classmates and friends that went to your church..."

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..."You may be interested to know that my Grandfather was the original building contractor on the church..."

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..."My sister and I attended the school and church from 1963 through 1972. My mother, even before that, was a member of the church and was married there along with my sister and aunt also... I'll always have a large amount of gratitude in my heart for your parish. It gave me a wonderful spiritual foundation for the rest of my life, and so many beautiful memories of my childhood..."

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..."My father grew up in St. Elizabeth's Parish and my grandmother attended daily Mass at St. Elizabeth's up until her death in the mid 1970's. St. Elizabeth's brings back many memories of my boyhood too."

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..."I had the pleasure of working with the then Fr. Mike for a number of years in efforts to help the school."

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..."I made my First Holy Communion and I was confirmed at St. Elizabeth's so the sight of the church in the Catholic Virginian was sad. I attended and graduated from St. Elizabeth School in 1972..."

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..."I volunteered one time, years ago, at St. Elizabeth's with the Sisters of Mercy. We met frequently to work on projects for the school children..."

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..."I grew up in Highland Park... I went to school in the convent and watched as St. Elizabeth School was built. After graduating from the 8th grade in 1955, I attended St. Patrick's High School, graduating in 1959. Rev. Thomas Cassidy performed my marriage ceremony at St. Elizabeth Church on Feb. 6, 1960. My father... spent a number of years ~ in his spare time ~ helping to make repairs on the convent, school, church and sometimes, the rectory. Later, he helped at All Saints School... I hope that this check will help 'fill the bucket'..."

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..."God has blessed my family abundantly; therefore, please use this small gift to help repair the church roof. May you return to your worship space quickly..."

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..."I am a parishioner of St. Edwards and would like to help with the rebuilding..." (Note by mary ann: We used to twin with St. Edward's)

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..."I am a Catholic in another parish in Richmond. Thank you for being such a vibrant parish that has your priorities right, and is a true witness..."

Words of Encouragement

I was given the opportunity to read the letters that have been received so far and I want to tell you that I had tears in my eyes at the words of encouragement that members of other churches who have experienced similar disasters have given you and me. We must persevere... Here are excerpts from some of these letters.

...From the Sunday School Class at Parham Road Baptist Church: "Our prayers are with you as you work to get your church back in good shape. We have just gone through the same ordeal, and it is so hard to see your house of worship in disarray. Our Sunday School Class sends this small check in hopes that it may help in some way. We pray that God will be with you, as He was with us. We would have never made it happen without Him by our side."

...From a member of 3rd Presbyterian Church: "I am a member of 3rd Presbyterian Church in Richmond and our ceiling collapsed several years ago. I certainly empathize with your congregation and would like to help a little..."

...From a member of St. Michael's Episcopal Church: "Enclosed is our small contribution to help with the repairs to your church. We had a similar disaster at our church, St. Michael's Episcopal in Colonial Heights, several years ago. Our congregation, like yours, is a tight family; we too were 'bent, but not broken'. As Romans 8:28 promises, good things came out of this tragedy..."

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I was truly moved by the words of these generous people and I thought you would be too.

Donations Keep Rolling In!

Yesterday at Mass, Mary Walker gave us the latest update on donations for the replacement of the church ceiling. She said that as of December 19th, we have received monies from pledges and from donations to the church to the tune of $37,347! Oh my!

People from all over Virginia have responded to Michael Paul Williams' article in the Times-Dispatch and the one in the Catholic Virginian about St. Elizabeth's. Checks have been received from Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches; from several businesses, from a riding school and from a wellness group. There have been special donations in memory of deceased parishioners and from special funds foundations. There was even a letter with fundraising suggestions from a woman in Geneva, Ohio who read about St. Elizabeth's in her local newspaper which had picked up our story and printed it. St. Elizabeth's story must have spread all over the country and many many generous people have responded to it.

I was looking at the letters that have come thus far and I find addresses from all over Virginia. Not only from Richmond, but from Roanoke, Chesapeake, Martinsville, Windsor, Moseley, Alexandria, Madison Heights, Port Republic, Laurel Fork, Mechanicsville, Ashland, Powhatan, Midlothian, Kinsale, Hopewell, Chester, Glen Allen and Colonial Heights. All express words of encouragement and blessings for us, as we await the day when we can return to our beloved place of celebration and worship.

Fr. Andrew has signed the contract to fix the ceiling. Let the work begin!

Sowers of Justice

Cathy Woodson sent this article to the blog:

Please consider signing up on the Virginia Catholic Conference website at http://www.vacatholic.org.

Signing up to receive legislative alerts will provide updates on legislation and give information on the issue. You are given the opportunity to state how you would like to see your elected legislators vote on important issues. The Richmond Sowers will be following minimum wage legislation, predatory lending, several education bills, and any affordable housing legislation.

Advent Adult Faith Formation

Cathy Woodson sent the following article to the blog:

We will meet at the Willifords' home after liturgy this Sunday (December 17) and next Sunday (December 24).

Everyone in the parish has the resources we use: AT HOME WITH THE WORD, the "Little Blue Book", and this year, we have the "Green Book" and The Word Among Us. All have meditations and reflections on the readings. The group is informal and I encourage everyone to come, learn from one another and hear the insights from other perspectives.

2nd Advent Christian Ed Gathering

Ronnie wrote a very nice report about the 1st Advent Christian Ed gathering at the Willifords (see her comment at the appropriate article below). Is there someone out there who attended the 2nd gathering this past Sunday and willing to give a description of that one?

Christmas Breakfast ~ Caritas ~ Volunteers Needed

Fifth Street Baptist and St. Elizabeth churches will be hosting breakfast on Christmas morning for those less fortunate than we are. It will be held at Fifth Street Baptist which is located across the street from St. Elizabeth's. This will be a Caritas event and will be our opportunity to be of service to others as we follow through with our Advent theme of waiting and preparing for His coming with Faith, Hope and Charity.

Volunteers will be needed to help set up, prepare and serve the meal and help with the cleanup afterwards. Volunteers should be at Fifth Street Baptist Church at 8 a.m on Christmas morning. For more information on how you can help if you are unable to volunteer, contact Lucy Thompson at 329-5739.

Additional Pictures of the Damage to Our Church

Here are additional photos that were taken soon after the ceiling fell. Because the quality of the photographs were poor, I used a picture program to sharpen them a little.

The Baptismal Font is still standing amid the wreckage. Window panes are missing. The Tabernacle is still in place, as is the Sanctuary Lamp. The Book of the Gospels and its stand are also untouched.

We were indeed fortunate that noone was in the building when the ceiling fell.

Parish Members' Christmas Cards

Will there be any way to still use our Christmas Card boxes over at All Saints? I guess we will just have to hand them out to each other this year and continue the tradition next year.

Advent Christian Education at the Willifords

I wasn't able to make it to the Christian Education gathering at the Williford's last Sunday after Mass. Can someone fill us in on what was covered? That will help those of us who cannot come for one reason or another to receive some benefit too. Thanks.

The Catholic Virginian Article

Wow! This is the first time I have seen pictures of the damage to our church. It's enough to bring tears to your eyes when you see our place of worship in such a state. In case you haven't seen the article, you can find it online here:

http://www.catholicvirginian.org/archive/2006/2006vol82iss3/pages/article4.html

Let's hope we will receive some help with our renovation fund from this article. There's hope yet, that we will be able to fix the ceiling and remain in our building.

There's hope too, that we will be having services in the church hall by Christmas. I hope the powers that be, will send updates to this blog so we can have the latest news. I noticed that there were posters set out last Sunday with the totals of donations to the church. I didn't get the numbers since I had to leave right after Mass. Can someone provide them?