Catholic Philadelphia Outreach

*** PLEASE DONATE:  Mountain Replenishment Retreat for Monks, Hermits, Nuns, Orthodox Priests, and Ministers of the Poor ***

Please donate and share. We are buying a large tract of land in the North Country near the Canadian border so that people who minister to others can have a day off.

Most people who serve the needy are poor themselves. They get no respite. They usually get no financial help or support from any organizations for what they do. While most lay consumers give gigantic sums to large corporations, the hugest generosity is always denied to ministers and servers who directly involve themselves personally with low-income families, the impoverished, and the homeless. Although they are the ones who give gifts and administer care directly to the needy, their higher penetration of struggling households and streets is never subsidized or rewarded.

Most people who truly love and help the faithful live a modest existence in small homes or parishes and work at low-paying jobs. Their outreach is almost always self-funded, grass-roots, or locally drawn. While many of them have family members or parishioners who are low-income or are recipients of their special angelic care, these stewards of God humbly carry their own weight while performing their saintly outreach: always paying for all the donations and gifts, arranging for the transportation and safety of collaborators, assuming all collateral and personal risk while coordinating the efforts and egos of all their helpers---all the while recruiting and organizing new followers and converts. They are real leaders and heroes who get no rewards or thanks.

There is a real risk of burnout for the people who do this work. Because God did so much for them, they are compelled to help others in return, but almost always in unsung silence.

We at Catholic Philadelphia Outreach are buying a 25-acre plot of land in the mountains so that they can feel appreciated. So that they can get a breath of fresh air sometimes, to recharge, and to know that their vocations are not lived out in a vacuum. We are already building the cabins.

Hiking and fishing. Camping and mountaineering. Swimming and fishing. Off-grid skill-building. Story-swapping over campfires. Prayerful silence or worshipful celebration.

I am going to bring this Adirondack replenishment retreat to them so that they can serve the poor with more joy and with prolonged levity, with the realization that they are not running themselves into the ground. A pine-scented retreat in God's country will await them so that they can recharge their batteries before go back out there to serve the faithful.

Please help me in any way that you can. Donate money and tell your friends to donate. The more help we get in making this project successful means that we will already be recharging batteries for our lifelong work with the poor and homeless.

www.gofundme.com/catholicphilly