Mother Teresa Catholic Church, led by the Holy Spirit and inspired by the life of Christ, is dedicated to living the example of St. Teresa of Calcutta.
The role of the Mercy Ministry (formerly Mercy Council) is to oversee the charitable endeavors of the parish. Each year, we choose three agencies to focus on at the local, national, and international levels.
This past year we supported the Durham Community Food Pantry as our local focus, the Knights of Columbus as our national organization focus, and continued support of St. Matia Mulumba in Uganda as our international focus.
In addition, we served and supported Oak City Cares, Birthchoice, Catholic Charities Wrapped in Love, Read & Feed of Wake County, Habitat for Humanity, and Catholic Relief Services.
Thousands of pounds of food, summer and winter supplies, books and baby bottles full of coins, and Christmas gifts were among the items donated and distributed. In addition, our generous parishioners gave an impressive $76,577.95 to support those in need.
Our teen community stepped up in a big way leading the Read and Feed collection and raising funds through a Mardi Gras night for their mission trip this summer. They also have a role on the Respect Life committee with the Bottles for Birthchoice.
One of the highlights for our community was our Lenten Mission. The Mercy Council made a $1,000 donation to Aging With Dignity thanks to Jim Towey's Lenten Mission presentation.
This year, we again have the Durham Community Food Pantry as our local organization, Habitat for Humanity, as our national focus, and we'll continue our 15-year partnership with St. Matia Mulumba as our international focus.
As we move forward, the Mercy Ministry will now come directly under the Pastoral Council, assuring we're aligning the goals of our pastor and parishioners.
Our role will still be to oversee the charitable endeavors of the parish. This is done in several ways, but it usually begins with someone in our community identifying a need and determining that we can help meet that need.
We ask several questions to make sure this is a good fit for our community and that it will educate our parishioners. We consider who, what, where, and when. Once the project is approved, we ask the ministry leader to comply with certain guidelines for advertising, scheduling, and education.
Our goal is to give every ministry the time and attention it needs to succeed while considering that our parishioners' generosity should not be overburdened.
We work with our communication committee, the parish staff, and the pastoral council to meet and manage our goals. We're truly grateful for all who've helped us serve and support those in need both near and far.
One of the things we often hear is that folks want to do more hands-on work, and we will be exploring that. We may be looking for someone to lead our Read & Feed project. Of course, we would be happy to hear from anyone with your thoughts on how we can serve.
Please reach out at [email protected] or visit our webpage for more information on the agencies we support.
- Mary Ann McNeil
Mercy Ministry Coordinator