St. Michael Roman Catholic Church
‘Faith in Action’ is a phrase we hear often – called to be the compassionate Face of Christ, His hands and feet for our most vulnerable brothers and sisters in need. This is a guiding principle of our parish family at St. Michael’s, this thread is woven through the fabric of ministry life here. Throughout the pandemic, even during lockdown, St. Michael’s found a way to make outreach to others work. During those early days of lockdown beginning on March 19, 2020, the Salt & Light Ministry and the Religious Education Department initiated a weekly stop-drop-go emergency food collection on Miln Street, which ran for 15 weeks into the month of June. Donations came from everywhere; parishioners, residents, schools, businesses and other houses of worship – 6-7 carloads of food would be dropped off weekly to St. Joseph’s in Elizabeth. Also, during lockdown volunteers from our Salt & Light Ministry would shop and deliver groceries to seniors through a program at Catholic Charities – from March 31 – July 15, our volunteers made more than 100 trips to the grocery store, for seniors in need.
As day-to-day life begins to find its regular rhythm again, here at St. Michael’s outreach continues with fervor though our many ministries – our Samaritan Ministry supplies on average 70 loaves of sandwiches to St. Joseph’s every week; the Cranford Family Care pantry box is filled on a weekly basis; our parish coat drive provided the gift of warmth, our Reverse Advent Calendar saw an abundance of food donations; the Ministry of Mothers donated gloves to the Elmora Soup Kitchen, gift bags to Raphael’s Life House; parishioners donated over 1,500 gifts to our St. Nicholas Giving Tree during the Christmas Season; a group of our Confirmation candidates raised funds for Memorial Sloan Kettering through the sale of homemade lollipops, while other candidates donated items for blessing bags for the mothers at the Mercy House; our Salt & Light Ministry cooked & provided 200 Thanksgiving meals for local seniors, provide a monthly dinner donation to the Dudley House, donated Christmas Stocking to the Soldiers’ Angels Program, monthly they supply lunches to St. Joseph’s and cook for the St. Joseph’s Soup Kitchen on a bi-monthly basis; the Knights of Columbus cooked 500 corned beef dinners to raise funds for a local scholarship fund; our Feed My Lambs Snack Program has supplied nearly 4,000 snack bags and 300 weekend bags for children in need.
Blessed by God’s tremendous Grace, this is just a glimpse of the outreach that occurs on a daily basis here. There are many small, quiet gestures of giving that go unnoticed but they all create a parish where time, talent and treasure is given so selflessly for others. It is indeed a place where you see firsthand The Face of Christ.
This is the third in a series of articles by churches of the Cranford Clergy Council. This article was written by Patricia Conheeney. Photographs also provided Photos provided by Patricia Conheeney.Submitted by Skip Winter.
