Now that Lent has begun, Catholics are spending even more time in prayer and fasting in the weeks leading up to Easter, when we will celebrate our Savior’s resurrection.
In Haiti, one thing has always been certain. Through all the poverty, tragedy, and violence that has plagued the small Caribbean nation, Haitians have always celebrated Carnival.
This week, Cross Catholic staff met with Haitian mission partner Gladys Mecklembourg, who runs an orphanage on the country’s west coast, to learn how her ministry is coping with the earthquake crisis. We have provided funds to help Gladys meet emergency needs as she balances her responsibility of caring for her children with efforts to reach out to suffering people throughout the community.
At this time of year, we receive Christmas cards from our mission partners in the field. We are continually blessed by these handmade cards and personal notes from orphans we support in Haiti, students in the Philippines, and the Catholic missionaries we support in Latin America and Africa.
Every year the U.S. Census Bureau collects data on the nation’s Christmas spending habits. A few of this year’s stats: $16.6 billion. Number of cards, letters, and packages the U.S. Postal Service will deliver between Dec. 1 and Christmas this year. $4.3 billion. The value of U.S. toy imports from China between January and August 2009 to stock stores for Christmas.
About an hour outside Cusco, Peru sits Hogar Mercedes de Jesus Molina, a rural orphanage for 19 girls run by the Marianita Sisters. The sisters also run a feeding center, providing nutritious meals five days a week for about 90 needy children from the surrounding neighborhood.