My mailbox was flooded this week.
We get a lot of unsolicited pre-approved credit card applications throughout the year, and coupon books from local pizzerias, but around this time of year it's solicitations for charitable giving. Anyone we've given to before, and anyone loosely connected with them, sends out a heart-wrenching plea for funds.
Some send guilt tokens... free Christmas cards, address labels, or even nickels! I rarely give to the guilt mongers. It makes me wonder how much of my donation would go to high color glossy prints with attached gimmicks guilting others into sending money, rather than channeling aid directly where it needs to go.
Besides our local parish, of course, some of the charities dear to our hearts are the Pro-Life cause, Food for the Poor, Comunità Cenacolo, Catholic Relief Services, and the China Little Flower Project.
What are your favorite charities?
18 comments:
I really dont usually give to charities...Family first, then the poor souls. That's my order. If my family is taken care of, then I will have a Mass said for the Souls, and usually, that's about it...things are just too tight.
We won't give to anyone who sends us stuff like that too. We figure our donation would end up as another flier.
We love to donate to the Missionaries of Charity. We know it is going towards a good cause and figure no one can stretch a dollar the way they can. We also donate to my OB/GYN doctors as they do a lot of free crisis pregnancy work and are always in need of money to help cover the bills. We also donate to Courage as my husband wrote his Licentiate thesis on them and personally knew their saintly founder. It is also a cause dear to my heart for personal reasons. We are also very partial to the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming....the ones who make Mystic Monk coffees and teas....they are trying to build a community there.
Mary's Meals!
Fellowship of Catholic University Students, Food for the Poor, and the homeless people of Chicago ;)
Catholic education is important to us. We tend to give to schools that we believe instill true Catholic values and teachings. Fransican University in Stubenville, Ohio and Ave Maria University in Florida are two of our favorites. And this weekend we're heading to a fundraiser for a local, independent Catholic school that Dale Alhquist is speaking at.
Great question! I look forward to seeing what others' favorites are.
Masses for souls in Purgatory... can't go wrong there! :)
Ah, the MCs! No glossy color flyer wasted money there! Courage is awesome and those Mystic Monks know how to roast them coffee beans :-D. All wonderful, Katherine :).
I hadn't heard of them before but looked 'em up. Thanks for sharing!
FOCUS does some amazing work, don't they?
Catholic education, yes yes and yes! Both of your beneficiaries are excellent universities! As soon as I pay off my Catholic education student loans, I'll start giving back to my alma mater ;).
In addition to our local parish, and its St. Vincent de Paul society, we also have committed to Kendrick Glennon Seminary, and several times a year I give to the Missionary Oblates at Our Lady of the Snows. All of these are local for us, and since I firmly believe that charity begins at home, we try to stay local with our gifts.
At the suggestion of the Benedictine monks at Clear Creek, we have been giving to the Servants of the Poor of the Third World. I sometimes give Christmas gifts in the form of a donation to Heifer International. You can "buy" anything from a flock of ducks to a waterbuffalo (although that's way out of my means) for a poor family in someone's name and print out a card from their site to send. It's not a Catholic group, but I do think they do good work by providing the means for families to support themselves.
Most of ours goes to the local parish or to good religious orders, such as the FSSP or Franciscans of the Immaculate. However, sometimes I will give money to Cross Catholic International Outreach. Almost all of the money given goes to help those who need it, and they were listed by lifesitenews as one of the charities to give to b/c they support the Church's moral teachings.
I've been to Our Lady of the Snows before... when Pope John Paul II came to St. Louis (was that 1997?). A beautiful area!
As a farmy wife I'm rather partial to those agricultural initiatives :). It's a great way to invest in an area to help themselves instead of just giving a handout :).
Yeah, it's super important for Catholics to check out charities to make sure they don't advance immoral practices or siphon money to immoral causes, isn't it? That doesn't mean, as you well know, that we can only give to Catholic charities (as several of them aren't on the up and up, either!), but it does mean we have to be pretty vigilant, eh?
Our group had breakfast there on the way down to St. Louis to see The Pope!
What a small Catholic world! I wonder if I saw you :).
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