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Making New COnnections
StreetCode Academy:
Awarded 2021 #1 Non-Profit in the CA Senate 13th District!Are you looking for ways to contribute "Good" to the challenges of racism? The St. Thomas Aquinas parish Human Concerns Committee is highlighting for you Street Code. They seek to empower communities of color in Silicon Valley with access to the era of technology through skills training, design, coding, entrepreneurship and other pathways to better job opportunities.
These highlights may appeal to your desire to learn more, support with personal engagement and possibly provide financial assistance. It is another way we can become more aware and actively involved improving the lives and future opportunities for these local youth.
Let us work together translating our faith into making a "GOOD" difference for all people!
(here)
Girls to Woman provides media and visual arts workshop, leadership training,summer program, ongoing, gardening, nutrition and environmental education, after school programs for young women of color in East Palo Alto. Information (here)
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Bulletin
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Today's Readings
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Prayer Requests
Mercedes McCaffrey who passed on June 20, 2022
Elizabeth Fitting
Both Msgr. John Sandersfeld and Eleanor Kraft passed on August 3, 2022
Art Adams passed on August 10, 2022
George Chippendale passed on September 3, 2022
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Options for Weekly Reflection
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News From the PewsDear Friends,
Black History Month
--Little Lending Library—in the back of STA church
--Join local Palo Alto Social Justice Book Club Saturday Feb 11th 11 a.m. to noon online
-- Also on February 11th, 6:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Unity Palo Alto presents the play Words That Made the Difference: “Brown v. Board of Education” at their site.
-- Heart and Home shelter needs dinners for 8-10 women in February
-- Synod; Articles about recent statements of Pope Francis and Cardinal McElroy of San Diego
Black History Month
Little Lending Library on Racism (Located on table opposite the St. Thomas Aquinas church restroom)
Some time ago, several books were borrowed from the Little Lending Library currently devoted to Racism. We hope these books provide for some exploration into these always relevant and important Social Justice matters.
Your donations of any books on related topics are MOST WECOME to be left on the tabletop bookshelf. Everyone is encouraged to donate, borrow, return and provide comments that may move us forward to positive action.
Palo Alto Library presents: Stay Woke: A Social Justice Book Club
Spaces are available: Saturday, February 11, 2023 | 11 a.m. — 12 p.m. | Online
Interested in social justice and human rights? Are you looking to gain a greater understanding of the inequalities in the world around you? If so, this book club might be for you! We will read and respectfully discuss books around social justice and politically relevant themes, with the aim of creating community and connection. Registration is required. Learn more and register here. The book to be discussed on Feb 11th is When Stars are Scattered by Omar Muhamed and Victoria Jamieson. All Palo Alto library copies are out. Check other local libraries. It is available at Books inc. or your favorite online bookseller.
Books Inc Staff report: Absolutely stunning graphic nonfiction about Omar and Hassan, Somali brothers in a Kenyan refugee camp, and their long quest for a better life for themselves and others. This book is bursting with love and hope……..
Also on Saturday February 11:
Words That Made the Difference: Brown v. Board of Education
Saturday, February 11, 2023 | 6:15–9:30 p.m. | Unity Palo Alto Spiritual Center
3391 Middlefield Rd.
To commemorate Black History Month, Unity Palo Alto is pleased to announce a FREE, live performance of the play Words That Made the Difference: “Brown v. Board of Education.” This play has been touring the U.S. and is now being brought to Palo Alto. Performed one night only, this is an opportunity to see history come alive! Learn more here.
The Heart and Home Collaborative Women's Winter Shelter
The Women's winter shelter is in need of volunteers in February. We are continuing our long tradition of providing dinner meals for these women as they shelter 7pm-7am in rotating warm church locations until spring. See information about the shelter program (here)
Your donations already contributed a meal of hot organic soup, chicken casserole, salad and dessert which was thoroughly enjoyed by the ladies.
If you wish to join with friends or prepare solo an evening meal for up to 8-10 ladies which includes staff, please sign up online (here)
Contact the shelter at volunteers@hhcollab.org for any questions or call 650-714-2131 for assistance. Meals from Costco or take-out are also very welcome.
We are always invited to stay for the meal and share some friendship.
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish Human Concerns Committee
Kaya OakesJanuary 26, 2023We need prophets to call out our broken institutions
In his 1955 essay collection Notes of a Native Son, the writer James Baldwin made a pointed statement about the country where he was born….
In his essays and novels, Baldwin was prophetic about the fact that America had not yet reckoned with what its history of human exploitation was doing to its identity as a nation,…..
…The statistic that three out of 10 American adults who were raised Catholic has left the church is a stark reminder that people are not finding a consistent source of light.
But this is why we need prophets, whistleblowers and those brave enough to call out our broken institutions. Jesus reminds us that “nothing is hidden except to be made visible, nothing is secret except to come to life.”
As Baldwin knew, holding institutions accountable means both being willing to see the people hurt by them as individuals, and to see the people within them who make mistakes as individuals as well.
(here)Cardinal McElroy writes in America on February 3, 2023 Sex and sin need a new framework in the church
What would it take to build a radically inclusive church? That is the question Cardinal Robert McElroy took up in a recent article published by America. In it, he called on the church to dismantle the “structures and cultures of exclusion” that alienate some Catholics, including women, the poor, divorced-and-remarried couples and L.G.B.T. Catholics. Most controversially, he argued that people who do not conform to the church’s teaching on sex and marriage should not be excluded from receiving Communion………
Read complete article:(here)