Christ the King Parish

Dear Friends,
On Thursday, May 10, someone slashed half a dozen of our Church pews in the late afternoon. Our security system has not yet been installed, because we were planning to do it at the same time as the Ministry Center. My reaction was one of sadness and pain for the person and his or her state of mind. Is this person angry, mentally challenged or just being a vandal? Do we close our Church from now on? I let my emotions settle down, and then tried to see it with the “eyes of my heart.” St. Paul to the Ephesians tells us that we must have the eyes of our hearts enlightened so that we might know (Ephesians 1:17- 19).  I decided not to close the Church and keep it open until late afternoon. We need a place to pray.  

It is a fact of life that when we as a community reach out in compassion to the poor and the vulnerable, to strangers and those emotionally challenged, it is also expected that we will encounter such problems. I am so grateful for our Vincentians and for their great ministry to the poor. I wish we could do even more. It is possible that someone emotionally upset or angry with God committed these acts of vandalism. We don’t know. We need to be smart and vigilant. But we must also recognize the real issue here. However terrible it may be, these folks are making their voice known to us as a society or in particular to us as people of God. We need to address their problems, anger or mental illness. We as a community of Jesus must listen and respond in loving and non-judgmental ways to alleviate the suffering in our world. The great Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said, “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.” In this more unequal, hotter, unstable and interdependent world we cannot now settle for charity alone. We must recognize our responsibility to the poor and the vulnerable and continue the long march to justice.  Most people who live with mental illness have, at some point, been blamed for their condition. They’ve been called names. Their symptoms have been referred to as something they can control if they only tried. They have been illegally discriminated against, with no justice. Let us continue to do the good we do, and embrace the challenges with joy.  

We have reported the incident to PH Police Dept., and have approached our insurers about getting our pews restored. There is a deductible of $ 2500.00, and I am happy to report that one of our faithful families has stepped forward to pay the difference. Thank you. 

Change my Criminal Record: The Ella Baker Center and close ally, Street Level Health Project, are hosting an expungement clinic on June 19th in Oakland. Californians passed Prop 47, which allows past criminal convictions to be expunged or reclassified as lesser offences if they meet certain criteria. Please see the following link for more information about Prop 47: http://myprop47.org/change-my-record/ This clinic is especially meaningful to our immigrant neighbors. Expungement allows community members to remove past offenses, which may be barriers to attaining an immigration status. The expungement of past offenses may even disqualify neighbors from ICE enforcement, ensuring their safety from detention. Please help support friends you may know!  

Thank you! This year we have had three weekends of First Communions and our Teen Confirmation will be next Sunday at 3:00pm. I have personally sat with our teens for 5 minutes each to interview them and to share in their own excitement as they approach this awesome sacrament. Our first communion children were well prepared and the services were very meaningful. I am very grateful to Sr. Maureen, Joan Smits, catechists and school teachers for a ministry well done. I would like to thank Rick Lejano, Helen Christian and our confirmation team for working so hard with our young people. I am looking forward to having many of these confirmed teens to join us as Peer Leaders next year.  May God bless us on this Pentecost and May His Spirit pour down into our hearts!   
 
A BIG ‘THANK YOU’ TO ALL WHO ARE WORKING HARD ON THE FESTIVAL!  

Paulson