Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at 419 Jones Street, Moville, IA 51039-0802 US - FROM THE PASTOR...

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“Families are struggling. Faith is calling" is the theme of the 2009 Collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which will be the weekend of November 21-22.
The economic crisis has left many in the United States without security: the security of having a job, of having health care or a sufficient retirement fund. U.S. Census poverty figures reveal that the number of people currently in poverty in the United States is estimated at 39.8 million, almost 3 million more people than the previous year’s readings. For most of these families, however, these kinds of security have always been out of reach, and the current crisis has amplified their struggle.
“The mission of CCHD is crucial in 2009: To uplift and embolden all who are one layoff or one medical scare away from the poverty line—and all who are already there,” said Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, Mississippi, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee on CCHD.
    For nearly 40 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has embodied Catholic social teaching through the pursuit of justice and the upholding of the dignity of the human person. Since 1970, CCHD has funded community groups that create affordable housing, obtain fair wages and provide job training, as well as other organizing projects led by low income individuals to help people and resolve problems in their communities.
    CCHD’s primary source of support is the once-a-year CCHD Collection held in U.S. parishes. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds support projects in the diocese where the funds are collected.
CCHD funds programs where poor and marginalized people are empowered to make decisions, seek solutions to local problems and find ways to improve their lives and neighborhoods. Economic development initiatives help poor and low-income people develop new businesses, create new jobs and develop assets that are owned by families and communities. CCHD also provides educational opportunities for Catholics to learn about poverty, interact with those affected by it and reflect on a faith response to it.
  Every grant application for CCHD money is reviewed and approved by a diocesan bishop, and grants can be and have been terminated if the grant recipient violates fundamental Catholic teachings.

Nearly two years after Bishop R. Walker Nickless formed a Strategic Planning Task Force in the Diocese of Sioux City, he officially promulgated a five-year plan for our Diocese in September 2009. As of this date Immaculate Conception Church-Moville has become a Parish Center and St. Michael Church-Kingsley a Liturgical Site.

As was explained at meetings on 15 February 2009 and 25 August 2009 held at Immaculate Conception with members of both parishes a PARISH CENTER is a parish community that has the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, is a Sunday Liturgical site, is a Sacramental site [where all sacraments are celebrated], is a Catechetical [Faith Formation] site, is a Weekday Mass site, is the location of the Rectory and the parish offices including the pastoral and finance councils. A LITURGICAL SITE is a parish community that has the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, is a Sunday Liturgical Site, is a Sacramental Site, is an optional Catechetical Site, and is a optional Weekday Mass with office at the PARISH CENTER.

In the case of our two parishes, as announced earlier this year, the Sacramental and Catechetical events (including daily Mass) will remain the same. What will need to be done now is to begin work on consolidating the administration of the two parishes, into Moville.

Several steps in this have already been completed: baptismal and marital preparation and RCIA efforts have been combined, the work of both parishes’ Finance Councils have been combined, and the hiring of an Administrative Assistant for both parishes.

The next steps will include work to have the ICC Pastoral Council and St. Michael Parish Councils to work more in cooperation with each other, moving parish records from Kingsley to Moville, forming a Coordinating Committee, and consolidating the duplicated administrative efforts of both parishes to provide for more effective and efficient administration of both parishes.
Most people in the pew will not notice a change. More information regarding this plan [affecting all 114 parishes of the Diocese] can be found on our website under DIOCESE OF SIOUX CITY PASTORAL PLANNING.

DIOCESAN ANNUAL APPEAL (DAA) is our annual Diocesan-wide fundraiser that helps to support our parish and the Diocesan Church. Each one of us is called to participate in the mission of the Church, for Christ is made visible to the world through our gifts of time, talent, and treasure. The Diocesan Church can fulfill its mission only with the support of people like you, who know their contributions have an impact. Then the work of the Church is a collection of ministries in which all of us share. As a priest and a member of the Diocese of Sioux City and this parish, I support the Diocesan Annual Appeal. Each year, money that is raised provides support for our parish and the Diocesan Church. These moneys insure that vital programs continue in our parish and Diocese. Your gift testifies that the Lord comes to us through one another. We see God, serve God, and love God in all our sisters and brothers. Thank you for your commitment to share with one another in the name of the Lord. Around September 14 you will receive your DAA Pledge/Contribution card with which you can make a pledge that you may pay over the next year and/or make a contribution at this time. Whatever amount you pledge or contribute, please fill out your card and return it in the envelope in the parish’s collection basket by early October. Please make your check payable to the Diocese of Sioux City. By returning your card, you can help achieve the goal to have 100% participation in this campaign and help raise $1.5 million for parish and Diocesan ministries!

Let us open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts; and with open arms let us embrace those who need us the most. Your support is clear proof of the Lord’s presence among us. Together, we make a difference in many, many lives. Thank you for your assistance.

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 As children we have all been hurt.

Our first experience of pain was on that day when, as a little child, we sensed that we were not wanted by our parents, when they were angry with us because we did not fit into their plan or do what they wanted us to do.

We cried out and disturbed them when they did not want to be disturbed or we did something that annoyed them.

We were so little, so vulnerable then, so in need of love and of understanding.

We could not understand that this breakage came from the fatigue, emptiness, inner pain, and wounds of our parents who could not bear to hear our cry, and that it was not "our" fault.

We had to escape, then, into dreams, projects, and ideas.

When little children are hurt, they close themselves up, hiding behind unexpressed anger, revolt, and grief, sulking in depression, or they escape into a world of dreams.

This breakage is like a dagger entering a fragile heart, craving for communion.

It causes horrible loneliness, anguish, inner pain, feelings of guilt and shame.

Children feel they have hurt their parents and have disappointed them.

No child can understand or bear this inner pain.

Children cannot judge or condemn their parents, whom they need so much just to survive.

So they withhold and hide their anger and blame themselves.

They know then that they are no good, unlovable, misfits that nobody wants.

Human beings learn to cut themselves off from all this inner pain, and thus from reality, and especially from the reality of people who cause or reawaken inner pain.

We are all so broken in love, and in our capacity to relate.

We have difficulty understanding others and wanting their growth and peace of heart.

We can quickly judge or condemn them.

We push them away, frightened of them.

We hurt each other.

We seek to control or to use others, or to run away and hide.

Since we were little children we have hidden this pain deep down within us,

in a forgotten world with solid barriers around it.

It is in this forgotten world of early pain, rejection, and confusion that the thirst for love and communion is wounded, and then relationships become dangerous.

So we tend to live not in reality but in dream, in ideologies, and illusions, in theories and projects,
things that bring success and acclaim.

The barriers around our hearts are deep and strong, protecting us from pain.

We live in the past or in the future or in a dream.

[From: Jean Vanier, Jesus, the Gift of Life.  New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994, pp 66-68.]