In Violation of the Law of Mercy!

Good Morning America reported yesterday, a North Carolina church group said they were prevented from handing out food to the homeless after police threatened them with arrest, according to their website.

For the past six years, volunteers from Love Wins Ministries frequented Moore Square in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturdays and Sundays to give out hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to those in need, according to the church group's website.

But when volunteers went down to their usual weekend spot to dole out the 100 sausage biscuits and the gallons of coffee they had brought to feed the crowds who had gathered Saturday morning, they were also greeted by officers with the Raleigh Police Department (picture), according to a statement on the church group's website.

"An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested," the Rev. Hugh Hollowell wrote on the group's website. "We asked the officers for permission to disperse the biscuits to the over 70 people who had lined up, waiting to eat. They said no. I had to face those who were waiting and tell them that I could not feed them, or I would be arrested."

The Raleigh police were there to enforce a city ordinance that bans the distribution of food in any of the city's parks, ABC Raleigh, N.C., station WTVD-TV reported.

While the group said it was aware they could not use the park itself, they had set up on the sidewalk for the past six years without issue, their website said.

"No representative from the Raleigh Police Department was willing to tell us which ordinance we were breaking, or why, after six years and countless friendly and cooperative encounters with the Department, they are now preventing us from feeding hungry people," Hollowell wrote.

In addition, the group learned it would need to apply for a permit to use the park, which costs $800 a day, their website said.

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• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Simple acts of kindness, compassion and mercy prevents dehydration, ER visits and death among our homeless family.

Recently, the Servants of the Father of Mercy have been begging for an increase in water and snacks for the homeless living under bridges and in the alleyways of So Cal.  Since 2001, delivering adequate staples to remote under-served poor is a challenge. A church that sponsors a collection of supplies, dubbed “Water Bottle & Snack Sunday” can make a big difference in homeless lives.  Simple acts of kindness, compassion and mercy prevents dehydration, ER visits and death among our homeless family.

May God bless so many that did so much to make last weekend at Holy Cross Church in Moorpark, CA (4,000 bottles of water and 1,000s of snacks donated) a success as well as the weekend before a success with at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley (2,000 bottles of water donated).

Deacon Manny, we give thanks for arranging the collection at St. Peter Claver Church.  We give thanks for Fr. Jim, our retreat speaker in 2012 who recently inspired the event at Holy Cross Church with Msgr. Paul.  Thanks to Barbara, Maggie and Melinda for staffing the collection for hours upon hours in the hot sun and delivering it here to the Father of Mercy Chapel in Santa Paula, CA.  Thanks to Manny and Julio from Manny’s Auto for helping to offload as well as Orlando Sr. for the offload last Sunday afternoon.

 

Have you had a chance yet to donate helping place back into service the 2008 KIA Rondo homeless delivery supplies van?  Collecting 175,000 miles in just five years, almost every major system collapsed since April, totalling nearly $8,000 in repairs.  Donate compassion and help at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless or post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All gifts are tax deductible.
_______________

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Last Chance Invitation to Help the Homeless this Weekend

Today, Saturday August 17th and Sunday the 18th the Servants of the Father of Mercy will not be having a weekly team meeting. We will be at Holy Cross Church in Moorpark, CA.  Please plan to attend and help receive food and water donations from parishioners and thank them for their help supporting our homeless family.  See you there!

 

 

Here is the Holy Cross Church Mass schedule:

Saturday

5:00p

Sunday

7:45a
9:00a
10:30a
12:15p

Directions from Santa Barbara/Ventura:  Take the 101 South past Thousand Oaks.  Get on 23 north, exit Tierra Rejada.  Go left off the exit and go to Spring Road third light down.  Go right on Peach Hill and the Holy Cross Church is down on the left, 13955 Peach Hill Road, Moorpark, CA  93021

Have you had a chance yet to donate helping put back into service the 2008 KIA Rondo homeless delivery van?  Collecting 175,000 miles in just five years, almost every major system has collapsed since April, totalling nearly $8,000 in repairs.  Donate compassion at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless or post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All gifts are tax deductible.

_______________

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

The Ultimate Deception

The ultimate deception is to believe I am alive when I am actually dead.  That is when I protect my own time, talent and treasure and when I exert power and control over others to excel at getting what I want out of life.  Conversely, upside down and inside out is when I am dead now, but actually alive.  God asks that I abandon self, lose my life and apply mercy for the sake of others.  Ultimately, mercy triumphs over judgment!  The Apostle said . . .

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:12-17

_______________

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Invitation to Help the Homeless In America

On Saturday August 17th and Sunday the 18th the Servants of the Father of Mercy will not have the usual weekly team meeting, but will be at Holy Cross Church in Moorpark, CA.  Please plan to attend and help receive food and water donations from parishioners and thank them for their help for our homeless family.  See you there!

Here is the Mass schedule:

Saturday 5:00p

Sunday

7:45a
9:00a
10:30a
12:15p
 
Directions:  From Ventura - take the 101 South past Thousand Oaks.  Get on 23 north, exit Tierra Rejada.  Go left off the exit and go to Spring Road third light down.  Go right on Peach Hill and the Holy Cross Church is down on the left.

HOLY CROSS CHURCH
13955 Peach Hill Road, Moorpark, CA 93021
_______________

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Angels Somewhere Out There Helping Those in Need

By Billy Hallowell

Some believe in angels and others don't. But a story coming out of Center, Missouri, today  might lead skeptics to conclude that a higher-power sometimes intervenes in the midst of tragedy. Of course, there's also the potential that a real-life priest is responsible for the life-saving act that's gaining widespread attention -- and that he has simply yet to be found.

KHQA-TV is reporting a story that seems virtually unbelievable. After Aaron Smith, 26, struck Katie Lentz, 19, in a head-on car crash on Sunday morning, authorities claim they began a long rescue process. After 60 minutes of trying to get Lentz out of the vehicle (she was pinned between the steering wheel and the seat), rescue crews, at Lentz's request, prayed out loud for the trapped woman.

And that's when a mystery priest allegedly appeared. According to accounts, he came out of nowhere and brought intense calm upon the situation.

"He came up and approached the patient, and offered a prayer," New London Fire Chief Raymond Reed told KHQA-TV. "It was a Catholic priest who had anointing oil with him. A sense of calmness came over her, and it did us as well."

Considering how many people were at the scene and interacting with the mystery faith leader, the story is a fascinating one.

"I can't be for certain how it was said, but myself and another firefighter, we very plainly heard that we should remain calm, that our tools would now work and that we would get her out of that vehicle," the firefighter added.

Now here's where things get weird. After another fire department showed up, the rescue proceeded easily and the tools worked, as promised. But when nearly a dozen firefighters turned around to thank the priest, he was gone; the road was empty. Considering that the road was blocked off for a quarter of a mile during the rescue and that no cars were around, the scenario, on the surface, seems a bit bizarre.

Lentz's friends and family want to thank the priest, but, so far, he's nowhere to be found.

"Where did this guy come from?" Travis Wiseman said, speaking rhetorically about the faith leader . "We're looking for the priest and so far, no one has seen him. Whether it was a priest as an angel or an actual angel, he was an angel to all those and to Katie."

Smith has been charged with a DWI, second degree assault and failure to drive on the right side of the road. And the search for the priest forges on.

_______________

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

One Day Only Opportunity: Eliminates the Homelessness of Purgatory

Friends, the Lord's mercy would like to have us all in Heaven! In the year 1216 St. Francis obtained the Porziuncola plenary indulgence (also known as a Pardon) from the Lord in a vision and later approved by Pope Honorius III. Normally obtainable each year on August 2 and 15, it is also expanded to include this Sunday (today) following. A plenary indulgence is the full pardon of all punishment time due to sin a person has accumulated over his or her lifetime (no years of suffering in Purgatory if you die on Monday). (Protestant friends, think of it this way, "do the crime - pay the time." as in the parable of the "Unmerciful Servant".) Here are the conditions of the Porziuncola plenary indulgence: 1. Go and make a "good" confession this evening or within 8 days. 2. Attend mass at a parish and also receive communion. 3. Recite one "Our Father" and one "Apostles Creed." 4. Pray for the prayer intentions of Pope Francis. In the words of a Dominican pastor and military chaplain, it was his only Sunday homily that took seconds to deliver; "It's your soul, save it!"
_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.

Upside Down Thinking

As it turns out, the Lord God is the only one in our human picture that is NOT homeless.  Isaiah tells us that a home cannot be made for the one who made all these things.  In the end, the Prophet reminds us that all of us, each one here on earth, we are the homeless ones.  God admonishes those who are willing to admit their poverty to come to him, humbly and he will make a home for him. 

Isaiah, an interesting character; a prophet hated and persecuted for his upside down message . . .

This is what the Lord says:  “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Where is the house you will build for me?  Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.

“These are the ones I look on with favor:  the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word.” Isaiah 66:1-3

_______________     

• Invite your family and friends to Subscribe! to Homeless In America.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote in the polls.
• List yourself as a blog follower, middle right column.
• Donate! to the poor homeless deliveries of food, water, clothing, blankets, socks, underwear, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pocket Bibles, rosaries and prayer cards at http://servantsofthefather.org/donate_2_homeless
• Post checks to - Servants of the Father of Mercy, Inc., P.O. Box 42001, Los Angeles, CA 90042. All Donations are Tax Deductible.