Responding to Their Needs and More in Your Newsletter

St. Anthony Catholic Church

Davenport, Iowa

Email Newsletter

Responses to Thanksgiving and Christmas Basket Survey

Precursor of the Need We Will Be Experiencing

in Our Parish Social Justice Efforts in the Days to Come

Since, its beginning St. Anthony Parish has been a beckon of hope for those in need, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Quite possibly this COVID-19 crisis and its after effects might present us with our most challenging response. Right now we are preparing to reopen McAnthony Window on Monday. We will only allow staff in the building. No parishioners or visitors will be allowed into the church or parish center.

As a way to remind ourselves of just how much we rise to the occasion of feeding people at Thanksgiving and Christmas through our food basket giveaway, I thought I'd share with you comments from a recent survey we conducted of recipients of our baskets. Here's some of what they had to say...

I am so grateful that you are able to do this for so many of our community. There are so many that are grateful and thankful for all the support and the meals and other things you provide.

All of the basket, it was a blessing from God. I am glad that God and you are here.

It took a true blessing to get the meat because I didn't possess the money to get the meat for the holidays.

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Photo above is of a homeless person wrapped in blankets in the McAnthony Window area outside my office this afternoon. This is quite possibly a precursor to the type of need we will be seeing in the days to come.

According to the Coronvirus Task Force meeting on homelessness that I sat in on this morning, there are about 30 homeless individuals on the streets of Davenport who didn't make it into the hotels where another 95 persons are being kept.

It was disturbing to hear that there is a waiting list of 50 families that are experiencing homelessness waiting to get into shelter. The Salvation Army is remaining in close contact with those families and they believe that only 6 or 7 haven't been able to at least find temporary shelter on a night-to-night.

Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday

Special Zoom Audio-Conference Prayer with St. Anthony's

Origin of Divine Mercy Sunday

From U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Saint Faustina: Mankind’s need for the message of Divine Mercy took on dire urgency in the 20th Century, when civilization began to experience an “eclipse of the sense of God” and, therefore to lose the understanding of the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life. In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary. St. John Paul II explains:

This was precisely the time when those ideologies of evil, nazism and communism, were taking shape. Sister Faustina became the herald of the one message capable of off-setting the evil of those ideologies, that fact that God is mercy—the truth of the merciful Christ. And for this reason, when I was called to the See of Peter, I felt impelled to pass on those experiences of a fellow Pole that deserve a place in the treasury of the universal Church.

~ Pope Saint John Paul II, Memory and Identity (2005)

Divine Mercy Sunday: St. Faustina’s Diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed, for example:

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, no. 699)

On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would henceforth be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, St. Anthony's will host a Zoom audio-prayer conference beginning at 3 p.m. You DO NOT need internet connection to participate. We will begin with the Divine Mercy Chaplet, followed by intercessions, and conclude with the Rosary.

Join Us this Sunday by...

Dial - 13126266799

Followed by entering meeting ID 95747891244#

Do you plan to join us by dialing in for our celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday?

LOCATION
Zoom by Phone

DATE AND TIME
04/19/20 3:00pm - 04/19/20 4:00pm

I'll be there!

Maybe

I can't make it

Preparing for Our Merger with St. Mary's

Double-sided English and Spanish

Act of Contrition Prayer Cards for the Confessional

Dear Parishioners,

Alleluia, Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Happy Easter Friday. What a difference of week can make in our faith lives? From Good Friday's suffering and death to this Friday's rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord.

We will once again bring this Sunday's Mass to you via video. We will try to get it to you through email and posting it by 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. I hope that you can join us that afternoon at 3 p.m. for a special Divine Mercy Sunday prayer using Zoom's audio-conferencing. See dial in instructions elsewhere in the newsletter.

Yours in Christ,

Father Apo

Look Who I Found on the Road to Emmaus,

Well, Actually on Westerfield Road

by John Cooper

Practicing social distancing, I was able to spend some time with longtime parishioner Joe Peisch on Easter. Joe lives down the street from me. Unlike the disciples walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, we came to see Jesus in the raking of leaves for spring cleaning his yard.

It has been great having Joe join us via Zoom for praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary. Joe doesn't have internet. Zoom doesn't require it to participate through audio, even a landline phone will work. Please spread this to our shut-in parishioners. All you have to do is give them the phone number and meeting ID. That's it!

The Latin Root of the Word "Quarantine" is "Forty".

Author Unknown - Shared by a Parishioner

So what does the Bible say about 40?

The flood lasted 40 days.

40 years Moses fled Egypt.

40 days Moses stayed on Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments.

Exodus lasted 40 years.

Jesus fasted for 40 days.

Lent is 40 days.

Jesus ascended to Heaven 40 days after he rose again

40 days for a woman to rest after giving birth.

A group of theologians thinks the number 40 represents "change”. It is the time of preparing a person, or people, to make a fundamental change.

Something will happen after these 40 days. Just believe and pray. Remember, whenever the number 40 appears in the Bible, there is a "change".

Please know that during this "quarantine" rivers are cleaning up, vegetation is growing, the air is becoming cleaner because of less pollution, there is less theft and murder, healing is happening, and most importantly, people are turning to Christ. The Earth is at rest for the first time in many years and hearts are truly transforming.

So, during this time, enjoy it with your loved ones and return to the family altar together. Family prayer is a great blessing. Through prayer you will see the changes God can work in you and in your home. Christ promises us that everything works together for the good for those who love God: Romans 8:28!

Remember we are in the year 2020, and 20 + 20 = 40.

Also, 2020 is the year of the United States Census. Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, was born during a census.

Lastly, 2020 is perfect vision. May our sight focus on the Lord and living according to His perfect vision for us knowing He holds us in the palm of His hand.

May these days of "quarantine" bring spiritual liberation to our souls, our nation, and our world.

The best is yet to come.

Trust in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

This Morning's Snow at the Prairie

Click Video Below