During this pandemic, we can’t forget about those less fortunate than ourselves. Hopefully, you have read in the bulletin and in our parish emails about the different ministries here at Sacred Heart working with Catholic Charities to help feed the homeless in our community. Our ministries have been preparing breakfast bags and dropping them off every Sunday morning for those living in the Hillsborough Hope tent city. And all the food that we are using to prepare the breakfast bags has been provided by the generosity of you – our parishioners. We asked for your help, and the day before Palm Sunday, we had a collection drive and collected more than 5,700 fruit cups, cookies, breakfast bars, crackers, and snacks, along with 755 juice boxes.
We are going to have another collection drive for the guests of Hillsborough Hope, so mark your calendars for this Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. – noon for our next Twiggs Street drive-by collection. Items needed include:
- Box of individual fruit cups
- Box of individual snack crackers
- Bath towels (gently used okay)
- Hygiene & toiletries items (not necessary to be travel size, just the smallest size)
- Laundry detergent (bulk over quality)
- Anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizer
- Boxes of individual drink products (fruit juice, Capri Sun, etc)
- Coffee condiments: creamer, sugar, and Nutrasweet/aspartame packets
- Large water bottles: refillable bottles
The weekly bulletin and this column are a good thing. I enjoy writing; I enjoy the process of thinking about what I want to write, starting to write, and then sometimes watching the column take on a new direction of thought. Now and again by inspiration or necessity, I might write a whole month of columns or more at a go. Late in the month of February, I had produced pastor columns for the first weekend in March (First Sunday in Lent) all the way through and including Easter Sunday. Check that off the “to-do list.” Then life changed as the world declared a pandemic, the churches closed, and the world found out it was a lot safer to be at home. Some columns did not need to be redone: Unmasking (March 15) and the two columns on “Habits of the Heart” (March 22 and 29). When I made the decision to stay with them and not rewrite them in the light of these pandemic days, I thought that they were still appropriate to the moment at hand. In looking at the columns again this morning, it was a good decision. 
Our Rosary Devotional Group is a group of parishioners who enjoy opening themselves up to God by praying the Rosary. Each month, they meditate on one of the mysteries – Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous, or Glorious, and members have the opportunity to make prayer requests on behalf of those in need. Last Saturday was their usual meeting date and they did not allow the Safer At Home rules to keep them from meeting. They all met on Zoom and those who didn’t have a computer, called in.
Our Knights of Columbus participate in many projects within our community and within our parish. Their latest project was to assist in collecting food for Hillsborough Hope. Last week, we shared with our parishioners how we are working with Catholic Charities to help feed those residing at 
