Bishop David Zubik celebrated the Vigil Mass of Ascension on May 24 at St. Paul’s Seminary by Commissioning 20 volunteer Chimbote Mission team members who will travel this summer to our mission in Peru. Father Ronald Lengwin, Executive Director of The Chimbote Foundation and Director of the Diocesan Mission Office, concelebrated.
The newly commissioned mission team members, on behalf of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, will give of their time, talents and treasure to witness the work of Jesus at the Maternidad de Maria maternity hospital and Center for Social Works (COS). The Center includes an outpatient clinic, clinical laboratory, center for orphaned or abandoned children plus a home visiting program which the Bishop, the Pittsburgh Diocese, the people of Pittsburgh and local companies have supported for more than 50 years.
Six deacons who had served or are about to serve as spiritual directors on mission trips assisted with the Vigil Mass: Timothy Noca, Richard Tucek, Thomas Lopus, Richard Caruso, Frank Szemanski and Joseph Dougherty.
Caring for Our Brothers and Sisters
Two hundred family, friends and mission partners attended the Mass and a spaghetti dinner fundraiser which followed. In his remarks and invocation, Bishop Zubik reminded us that, as God’s precious children, Jesus entrusts us to care for one another and that we are privileged to be given that trust. After dinner, Mr. Dennis Woytek, award-winning videographer and mission team member, presented his video “Witnessing Jesus in Chimbote: Calling all the Messengers” with photos and videos from previous mission trips to Chimbote.
While in Chimbote this summer, team members will have the opportunity to really understand the impact our mission has on the residents there by:
- Touring the COS facilities;
- Making home visits with nurses and social workers into the barrios where the destitute poor live who are too ill or fragile and who cannot get to the center;
- Attending to and playing with the infants and children at the center;
- Performing a variety of tasks to assist the staff at the center; and
- Participating in daily prayer and reflection.
The fundraising at the spaghetti dinner showed, once again, how generously people here in Pittsburgh support this diocesan mission. Over and above raising the translator expenses for the teams, each of the two teams will take a gift to the Sisters of $2,000 ($4,000 in total) for their use in the home visit program.
Team members are packing their bags to deliver a variety of gifts to Chimbote from Pittsburgh, including homemade puppets, Spanish children’s books, clothing and handmade sundresses. You can read more about that in an article published in the Pittsburgh Catholic HERE.
Please Pray for the Success of the Mission and the Safety of those Traveling
2017 Team 4A, June 16-26: Mary Lou Einloth, Team Leader; Deacon Richard Caruso, Spiritual director; Mara Aloi, Nick Aloi, Frank (Trip) Cahouet, Sam Hansen, Jim Luteran, Debbie Manion, Jim Manion and Dennis Woytek.
2017 Team 4B, June 30-July 10: Do Sabol, Team Leader; Deacon Frank Szemanski, Spiritual Director; Kimberly Szemanski, Joseph Auth, Roman Iannone, Carolyn Kiliany, Jeaneen Osborne, Steve Osborne, Linda Piso and Nathan Schollaert.
For more information about this event, please read the article published in the Pittsburgh Catholic on June 4, 2017.
By caring for the poorest of the poor, Chimbote mission supporters are blessed by God in immeasurable ways. If you would like to learn more about the Chimbote Mission in Peru or would like to become a mission supporter, more information is available on this website under the “Get Involved” tab.
Photo: Chuck Austin, Shotsworth Photography ([email protected])