Family Service

Paul and our four sons with Bishop Hying at Roses for Our Lady's 2012 Corpus Christi procession
(photo credit:  Mary Anne Urlakis)

Popular Catholic author and columnist  Marge Fenelon recently wrote a story for Our Sunday Visitor about families that volunteer together and included a piece about my family in the article.

“Volunteering as a family gives Paul and I a shared experience of planning and working together, supporting each other’s decisions and growing ever more deeply in love with God and each other through a joint gift of service,” -from Our Sunday Visitor column, Families Grow While Serving Together by Marge Fenelon.   

I hope that Marge's story inspires many families to look for ways that they can give back to the Lord as a united group and will find that the benefits they reap from their volunteer efforts are many.  You can read the entire story here.

My family preparing to celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Mother with Roses for Our Lady on September 8th, 2014 (photo credit:  Terry Boldin)

For more images of Roses for Our Lady's celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother, visit this link.

Riverwest Food Pantry

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."  ~Matthew 25:35

"Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off."  ~Paul Brodeur 

"To ensure that no one lacks bread, water, clothing, housing, work, health we need to recognize each other as children of the heavenly Father and so as brothers to each other, and conduct ourselves accordingly."  ~Pope Francis

Chef Paul, Sous Chef John, First Cook Mary

For the past eight months, my family and I have been spending the first Saturday mornings of the month volunteering at our parish's Riverwest Food Pantry.  It has been a beautiful opportunity for Paul and I to teach our children the importance of giving the gift of our time and love to others, as well as an opportunity to begin to build relationships with the poor in our community and to come to learn that despite any differences we might have, we really have a great deal in common with those who struggle with poverty, as we are all God's beloved children.

The Riverwest Food Pantry, under the direction of Vincent Noth, has been looking to expand its services beyond the simple distribution of food, and has developed a Health and Wellness Committee led by volunteer Jean De Vita.  One of the goals that the Health and Wellness Committee hopes to achieve is to teach the clients who regularly use the food pantry how to prepare healthy, low cost meals at home. Since my husband, Paul, and I, both have backgrounds in the food and nutrition industry, Paul as a chef, and myself as a dietetic technician working as a nutritionist for the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Program, we were eager to help in this regard.

Last Saturday, the Riverwest Food Pantry held its first-ever food demonstration.  Paul, myself, and most of our five children, prepared a vegetarian chili recipe that was high in protein, yet low in calories, fat and sodium.  Paul offered a quick demonstration on preparing the chili and explained its versatility in regards to adding or eliminating ingredients or using it for other menu items such as a tortilla filling or a stuffed pepper ingredient. We offered chili samples to all of the food pantry clients and Vincent had copies of the recipe prepared for the clients to take home with them.  In addition, many of the recipe ingredients could be found at the food pantry so that the clients could more easily prepare the recipe for themselves in the upcoming week if they so desired.

My family and I had so much fun working together to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ in this very simple and easy endeavor, and we look forward to offering many more nutritious food demonstrations in the future.  I ask you to please support the Riverwest Food Pantry, or your own local food pantry, with your prayers, your gifts of food, time and service, and your financial donations, not only during this upcoming sacrificial season of Lent, but always.

Please visit the Riverwest Food Pantry website here to learn more.

Chef Paul's Vegetarian Chili-12 servings 
(a great meatless entree for Ash Wednesday!)

1 15oz can Kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz can Black beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz can Pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz can Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 red or white onion, diced

½ cup diced celery

1 T. minced garlic or ½  tsp. garlic powder

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

1 12 oz can tomato paste

1 cup water

1 T. chili powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Optional:  ½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms

Combine all ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until all flavors are blended and vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally.

Yield:  12 servings 1-1/2 cup each

Nutrition Information per serving:  200 calories, 2 g fat, 95 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 6 g protein

Note:  1 pkg. chili seasoning can replace the chili powder and cayenne but keep in mind that the sodium content will increase. And all beans can be substituted-for example-use four cans kidney beans or 2 cans black beans and 2 cans garbanzo beans, etc.

Close to Heaven

This past week, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee played host to the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors (NCDVD). It was a great honor to have the opportunity to spend several hours volunteering at this event, working at the registration table. Did I say "working"? That can't be the right word, for truly, I can't remember ever having so much fun at a volunteer effort!

Every single priest who came to the desk to register had a beautiful smile and a few friendly words to offer, even the priest whose luggage was lost by the airline. It was clear to me that these Vocation Directors enjoyed their priesthood immensely and I imagine with pleasant dispositions like the ones I noticed, the priest shortage won't last much longer! Who wouldn't be drawn to the priesthood after meeting with a kind and friendly Vocation Director!

Whenever my family and I go on vacation, and people ask us where we are from, we are greeted with an uncomfortable silence when we tell them the name of our suburb. My son, Joe, calls our hometown a conversation killer. On Saturday, I was honored to meet a lovely woman who was helping to host the Conference. When I asked her where she was from and she answered "Indiana," I immediately thought of Joe's clever remark as I struggled to think of a way to carry the conversation beyond her home state. Gratefully, I remembered that one of my very favorite bloggers is a brilliant writer from Indiana, and grasping at what I thought was a straw, I mentioned her name. Well, wouldn't you know it, but my new acquaintance happened to be a personal friend of the blogger I mentioned, and she immediately called Betty Duffy on her cell phone. I had a bit of celebrity fever as I heard Betty on the other line mentioning that she had heard of my humble blog! What a small world it really is!

When I returned to the conference for a few more hours on Wednesday, I was in good company with my dear friend Anne (yep-two Anne's working side by side-how confusing is that?) and Susi, my sweet friend from the Vocations Office at our local Seminary. It was a joyful morning and the work was light, so Anne and I were able to venture among the various tables set up for display where I was surprised to find one of my all-time favorite priests and fellow blogger, Fr. Jim Kubicki manning the Apostleship of Prayer table! We even had time to sit in on a session about how to talk to parents whose children are considering the priesthood. As both Anne and I have sons who are discerning, this was a topic of great interest to us!

But perhaps best of all, we ended our day at Mass, one of the most beautiful and meaningful Masses that I have ever participated in! Truly it brought to mind Scott Hahn's "The Lamb's Supper" that clearly portrays the Mass as a reflection of heaven. I had never felt so close to heaven as I did at that Mass. As the room full of approximately 200 priests were finishing praying the rosary before Mass, they all stood and chanted "Regina Coeli". I have goosebumps just remembering the sight of so many men in white vestments looking like angels and the sound of their deep voices chanting this ageless prayer to our Beautiful Mother on the Occasion of "Our Lady of Sorrows." I pray that Mary's spirits were lifted up at this glorious sight and her sorrow was replaced with joy.

The homilist was Bishop Robert Morneau the auxiliary Bishop from Green Bay. His beautiful homily on the Angelus was peppered with poetry, in fact, at moments I wondered whether I at Mass or a poetry reading! One of the beautiful poems he recited was the Sancta Maria by Edgar Allen Poe. I was surprised to learn that the great E.A. Poe wrote such beautiful words; I had thought that he only specialized in the macabre.

Sancta Maria by Edgar Allen Poe

Sancta Maria! turn thine eyes -
Upon the sinner's sacrifice,
Of fervent prayer and humble love,
From thy holy throne above.

At morn - at noon - at twilight dim -
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe - in good and ill -
Mother of God, be with me still!

When the Hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;

Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast
Darkly my Present and my Past,
Let my Future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine!

The wonderful day was complete with a Thai luncheon with the girls (Susi and Anne) and long conversation, which left me racing to get to school in time to pick up the kids. Before my husband had left for work that morning, he offered to pick up our children from school for me (Wednesday is usually my turn because I am off of work on that day.) He said, "I will be happy to do it for you so that you don't have to hurry back, just in case you are enjoying yourself so much that you just can't break away." I felt that his offer was one of the most romantic things he had ever said to me. He truly understands my deep love for the Church and everything related to it and knew before I even left the house that I would have a wonderful day at the Conference.

But, I declined his offer, as I enjoy greeting my children at the end of the day and miss being able to do that on a regular basis because I work late. And I admit that even though the day at the Vocation Conference was great, there is nothing in the world like the feeling of seeing those sweet smiling faces of my two youngest children as they walk out of the school building and into my arms at the end of the day.