Praised be God for Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. He is our Prince of Peace and the Good Shepherd who protects our common home. In these times of distress, let us build a Church and a world formed by the Gospel, filled with the Holy Spirit, and ruled by the justice of Christ. Let us be shepherds to one another and to our neighbors.
 
Please save the dates of 
 
Monday, Dec. 3, our next monthly meeting.
 
Saturday, Dec. 8, our homeless outreach.
 
Friday, Dec. 14, an Advent Taizé prayer.
 
 
Here are brief updates on activities and projects. For full updates, join the working groups.
 
Care for Creation
 
The working group meets Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. at San Damiano. Newcomers welcome.
We are moving forward with projects to promote ecological conversion, parish action, and policy advocacy. We will hold an ecology fair on Saturday, April 13. We want to reduce plastic use at the parish and school, recycle more, and re-use more. We will educate children and adults for ecological conversion. We will demand better protections by the government.
 
Homelessness
 
The working group meets on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Choir Room. Join us for our street outreach on December 8. We will deliver tote bags with sandwiches, water, healthy snacks, winter clothing items, and other necessities. We will meet at 9 a.m. at San Damiano Retreat Center to prepare the bags before taking to the subways at 10 a.m. Also: Join our project to share the stories of homeless persons, and the facts about homelessness, with our parish.
 
Immigration
 
We are looking for volunteers to organize this group. From accompaniment to ICE or immigration court, to visiting the sanctuary churches, to supporting family reunification, to helping refugees, there is much work to do. Please contact Brother Anthony if you feel called to be a driver of parish action.
 
Tenants
 
We held two tenant rights workshops and hope to hold more in 2019. The last training was given on Nov. 1 by the Metropolitan Council on Housing and Northern Manhattan Is Not for Sale. We want to see tenant associations in every building and a neighborhood association of tenants. Contact Graham Ciraulo, gciraulo86@gmail.com, to get involved.
 
Save the date of Dec. 14, when we hold an Advent Taizé prayer. This is a beautiful contemplative prayer. Join us as we pray for healing of the Church, healing of our divided nation, and healing of our troubled world.
 
Finally, please bring food and drink to our next plenary meeting on Dec. 3. Volunteers are needed to take notes, keep time, and facilitate the meeting.
 
We hope you will remain a part of our parish family and follow in the footprints of Jesus Christ. God is with us and will never abandon us in our struggles.