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Dear Families,
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Our Religious Ed students greeting the family as they arrived at their new home.
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Making the beds and setting up
their bedroom.
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Many thanks to the Lojo, Myslinski and Niezyniecki families for helping deliver the goods and move them in.
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It feels like a year since this time last week. I was dashing off an email to you, and preparing for the Confirmation rehearsal. Since then, our lives have dramatically changed (and Confirmation was postponed for another time.)
I have
one bit of happy news to share with you. On Thursday evening, we were able to
welcome a family to begin their new lives in America. The family group is two brothers and one sister,
Yvonne Uwineza,
Girimbabazi Gasirimu, and Gadi Murenzi Gasasira. Yvonne has a three year old daughter, Pretty Agahozo. They are Congolese, refugees from the long civil war there. They fled when they were children and lived for twenty years in a refugee camp in Rwanda. Twenty-four hours after leaving the camp, they journeyed from Rwanda to Doha, Quatar and then one to Chicago.
Their new apartment in Rogers Park was filled with the household goods and a refrigerator full of food due to your generosity. They are the eighth family we have been able to help resettle in the last five years.
Of course, they moved into an America about to go through stressful times. We are all still getting used to the new reality we are facing for some weeks.
I would direct your attention to some resources for your family as we cope with 'social distance' and a life dictated by the coronavirus. Of course, we want to keep things as 'normal' as possible for our children. And part of that is not forgetting their religious formation.
 Our parish lives will continue from afar for the time being. You can watch the masses at both St. Emily and St. Thomas Becket online.
Please also keep in mind that both parishes (any parish) pays its salaries and bills with the funds you donate. (And fundraisers have been cancelled for the immediate future.) Please keep up your parish donations even if we cannot gather for mass. You can donate electronically to St. Emily here and to St. Thomas Becket here.
During Lent, we are encouraging all the students to
Read to Feed
to benefit
Heifer International
. This great organization supports sustainable agriculture, raising the standard of living in over 100 countries.
St. Emily is fortunate to have an endowment fund, the McLoraine Trust, which provides scholarship funds for St. Emily parishioners attending Catholic high schools. If you have an eighth grader, it is worth checking it out. Information is here.
Application form is here.
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