With the first Sunday of Advent, the Church enters into a special season of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord on Christmas Day. Receiving the angelic, “Tidings of great joy to People of Good Will (Lk 2:10),” the shepherds proceeded in haste to adore the Holy Child who was laid in the manger in Bethlehem. We are grateful to you for your support and prayers for Spiritan missionaries who today announce God’s Good News in Jesus Christ in over 60 countries. With your help they are establishing church communities, serving education and development needs and living as signs of God’s hope and peace for new generations!
Jesus was born in a cave and not in a royal palace. He willingly became vulnerable for our sakes in order for us to see and hear his invitation to live a new freedom and hope. For more than 300 years, Spiritans have carried this Good News of Jesus Christ to distant shores. From initial commitments to evangelize the peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, the newly freed slaves in the islands of the Indian Ocean & the Caribbean, the peoples of Amazonia, and the immigrant & African-American peoples of the United States, Spiritans have expanded to serve peoples of South and S.E. Asia and to the renewal of the Church in Europe and America.
We are very much aware that our efforts depend on you, our friends and supporters. Please know that not all of our missionaries are Americans. Most come from economically struggling countries and are often sent to places of greater poverty. Assisted by you, we in Houston are able to sort out needs and apply your gift to where it will do the most good.
A very current example is our support for a medical clinic in St. Jude Thaddeus parish in Mto wa Mbu, 15 miles south of Arusha, Tanzania. Arusha is 60 miles SW of Mt. Kilimanjaro, with the vast expanse of the Serengeti to the west. The parish saw the needs of their people and started a clinic with outstations to administer vaccines, provide HIV, malaria, & nutrition check-ups, etc.
There is so much more to do and WE NEED YOUR HELP. May we ask you this Christmas to consider a gift to enable Spiritan missionaries to help children and families with basic needs and to see hope for tomorrow. Please consider
making a donation today.
May God bless you and your family this Holy Season of Christmas,
Father Michael Grey, C.S.Sp.
Congregation of the Holy Spirit