Dear Friends,

The weeks have flown and it’s time for another Newsletter. This is always a busy time of year as our Annual Outdoor Mass and Picnic is just around the corner and preparations are in order. We are in the middle of July and are experiencing days in the 90s but you would never know it seeing the men cutting wood for the outdoor wood boilers to help with some of the heating needs in the winter. Our gardens are coming – the corn was knee high by the 4th of July – in hopes to be ready for the picnic. Several men tend the mowers and so our lawns are beautifully manicured. Flowers grace the sides and front of the buildings. God is so good to us.

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream”.

It’s time for our Summertime Thursday Night Ice Cream Cone Socials! For the past 2-3 years at 7:30 on most Thursday evenings, the men gather around the picnic table by the Bricks. From the kitchen, some bring table cloth, scoops, napkins, box of cones and 3-4 buckets of ice cream, and just in time so those coming to AA can also join in the frozen treats…and fun!

Father Jones opened our Board Meeting this afternoon with the following prayer and we share it with you in this letter:

A PRAYER FOR THE HOMELESS

Unlike the birds of the air with their nests or the foxes with their dens,

The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. And so we pray, Lord, for the homeless in our midst who more than most know how You felt when you lived on this earth.

Help us do more than pray for them, Lord. Help us turn our prayers into actions on their behalf, knowing what we do for them, we do for You.

Protect them, Lord, who must sleep in the streets that no harm may come to them this night. Make us aware of their plight and fill us with Your compassion and care believing that our hands and voices may be Your answer to their prayers. Amen.

(By Father Joseph Veneroso, M.M.)

Hope to see you August 21, at the annual picnic.

Blessings, Peg McCarthy