In This Issue...

Coordinator’s Corner – A Message from Fr. Scott

Celebrating the Present – a Time to Look Both Back and Forward

January is the door to a new year. It is a month marked by many secular and liturgical celebrations and beginnings. The New Year, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, and the continuation of the Christmas Season are but a few. As the calendar page turned this year, I took the time to enjoy these celebrations. I also chose to look back to the previous year and even to the start of my CTF ministry in January 2004. Confident that our disaster relief work has been and remains the Lord’s, I then began to look with great anticipation towards what lay ahead. January 2009 would be a new beginning – a time to celebrate the present and to look both back and forward.

With this first monthly e–mail update and those that will follow, we will do just that – celebrate; look back and look forward. We will celebrate what the Lord is doing in our lives and those of others. We will also look at the organizational journey of CTF-SOSDRS thus far . And we will scan the horizon – as much as any organization can whose purpose is to witness to the merciful love of Christ for the poor and the sick in word, deed and sacrament by serving the medical, pastoral and humanitarian needs of those affected by man-made and natural disasters.

Beginnings are not isolated events. They are for all of us who suffer the vicissitudes of time, part of the tapestry of life – that glorious continuum of past, present and future. Our lives form an integral part of this tapestry. Each moment for all of us is a new beginning, an opportunity to celebrate and affirm the goodness of the gift of life. Each moment also gives us the chance to look back on previous experiences and to hope for the future.

It was the same for Jesus. And today we celebrate such a moment in His life. We remember that glorious event when God the Father, after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan, declared – “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” Mk 1:11. This Spirit and water–filled moment was the seminal event in the public ministry of Jesus. Soon he would begin to preach that the “Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” Mk 1:15.

In the liturgical calendar and in reality, the Lord’s Baptism is preceded by His birth. We remember this salvific beginning during the Christmas season – a period of time whose bookends are actually two beginnings themselves – Christmas and the Baptism of the Lord.

These two beginnings in the life of Jesus are seminal events for us as well, i.e. beginnings. In the Lord’s incarnation and birth, better – in Christ – all men and women have become a new creation. The Son of God became man so that we, men and women, might become divine. And His Baptism prefigures that of all the baptized, which for them is a water and Spirit–filled moment of new life in God – when we are born again (Jn 3:5).

These beginnings and the year that has just started invite us to look both back and forward. They lead us to revisit the joys and the sorrows of the past – to be thankful for the former and to be open to a transformation of the latter. And they invite us to anticipate the future with hope. We can do both because each moment, each beginning, particularly the Christmas moment, looks ahead to the final act – the Second Coming of the Lord.

In celebrating Christmas we celebrate the Lord’s first coming in the flesh. “The grace of God has appeared...the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:11–14). Yes, His coming is good reason to celebrate. And at the SOSDRS Headquarters in Milwaukee we did just that – in many ways.

Eucharist on the Feast of the Holy Family

Spirit filled words from Deacon Jack during adoration

We wanted to maintain our focus on the Incarnation during the entire Christmas Season. So starting on Christmas, before our crèche we said a part of the prayer before a manger. I recommend this prayer to anyone who really wants to be imbued with the reality of the Word made flesh. Then on Sunday December 28, the Feast of the Holy Family, we had an SOSDRS organizational retreat. It was a time to share, to pray, to celebrate the Eucharist, to adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and to enjoy a good meal. The retreat was also a time to learn from the Holy Family about how to place the Lord Jesus at the center of our lives. Finally, since we wanted our celebration of the Christmas Season to include friends, family and supporters – particularly those from Immaculate Conception Parish next door – we invited them to a Christmas and New Years housewarming on January 4, the Solemnity of the Epiphany. There was much joy, food, fun and music. Praise the Lord who appeared in glory to the three kings in the form of a little babe!

It was on January 4, 2004 – 5 years earlier – that I began my Camillian Task Force work as a priest and a physician. The CTF had not yet started to respond to disasters, and I was not yet the coordinator. In fact, there wasn’t one. However, in January 2004 I had received permission to go on a multiple–country mission to do disaster–related ministry and to sensitize others to the mission of the CTF.

The first stop on my CTF mission was Honduras. I went there with a medical relief organization from Marquette University in Milwaukee named Global Medical Relief. I wanted to do some ministry in Honduras and to learn what had happened in Tegucigalpa and its surroundings at the time of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Reflecting back on my ministry experience in Honduras, some weeks later I started to write what would be a series of articles entitled “the CTF – a Work in Progress”. The allusion, once again, was to what the Lord said from the cross to St. Camillus when he was facing many challenges: “This is my work, not yours.”

In this update I am including the first installment in that series: “the CTF – a Work in Progress”. Together we will begin to look back at the organizational development of the CTF. Much related to the CTF and my involvement in it preceded my mission on January 4, 2004. But in a certain way my CTF journey began in earnest at that time. So now we will begin to look back together.

The present moment also gives us an opportunity to look forward. We will do that in this update as well. There are stories about two presently evolving CTF disaster relief missions – in Myanmar and the Republic of Georgia. I am including a news brief as well about what the month of January will bring for the CTF in Rome, the US and elsewhere. Enjoy.

As we walk through the door of January into the rest of the year, may we do so with great hope. May the various secular and liturgical celebrations be an opportunity for each of us to celebrate the present. May each moment be a chance to affirm the gift of life. For each moment is a beginning that looks to the future and soon recedes into the past. But like the first coming of the Lord in the flesh, each moment looks ahead to the final act – the Second Coming of the Lord. And that is something to look forward to with great hope.

Looking Back – Camillian Task Force: A Work in Progress – 1

I had barely slept in 48 hours. I was standing in the middle of the unclaimed-baggage area in the Mexico City Airport surrounded by throngs of people and a sea of luggage strewn across the floor, none of which was mine. In fact, Mexicana Air couldn’t even find my luggage registered on their computer. My bags must be somewhere in cyberspace I thought to myself as my mind wandered and the attendant fruitlessly banged away at the keyboard. I decided to fill out a lost-luggage claim form. What else could I do? I was a bit discouraged, and a lot tired. My first Camillian Task Force mission had gotten off to an inauspicious start My flight on January 4 from Milwaukee to Chicago had been cancelled at the last minute because of a blizzard I then rode in a snowstorm to O’Hare Airport because I couldn’t afford to fall behind schedule or I would miss the beginning of a medical mission in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. But I had to change my itinerary in Chicago because the flight that I was supposed to take to Los Angeles was 2 ½ hours behind schedule. The only flight that was available that would eventually get me to El Salvador and then Tegucigalpa was a 1:30 AM plane to Mexico City. The United Airlines attendant in Chicago assured me that I could make this Mexicana Air flight and that my bags would be on it. I did, but they weren’t.

Fatigue began to wear on my spirit as I looked wearily at the piles of unclaimed luggage on the floor. For a moment I began to question my decision to go on a 7–month Camillian Task Force mission that would eventually take me to Tegucigalpa, El Salvador, the Philippines, Italy, France, Kenya and Uganda. But I told myself that I had thought long and hard about the mission and that I was sure it would be a unique opportunity to accomplish several goals:
1.To effectively launch the Camillian Task Force (CTF)
2.To minister as a Camillian priest and physician
3.To sensitize Camillians and others to the CTF’s mission of witnessing to the merciful love of Christ for the sick
4.To collaborate with like-minded missionary groups
5.To build a database of persons interested in participating in CTF missions or supporting them financially
6.To make contacts with the local church in those countries where the Task Force might want to work in the future, e.g. areas that have already been affected by man–made or natural disasters
7.To better determine what medical and pastoral skills I will need in order to serve effectively as a CTF member
8.To find a base from which the Camillian Task Force can operate.

I began to pray about these goals and about what St. Camillus de Lellis had heard Jesus saying to him from the cross at a particularly difficult time in his own vocation: “This is my work not yours”. My discouragement began to lessen. I realized that like my perpetual profession in May 2003 and my ordination to the priesthood on November 29 of the same year, both this 7-month CTF mission and the work of the Camillian Task Force would be the work of the Lord – His work not ours.

The Camillian Task Force is a new apostolic reality of the Order of St. Camillus first approved by the General Chapter of 1995 and “officially born” on April 18, 2000 when the then Superior General of the Camillians, Father Angelo Brusco, established the 6–member Central Commission (CC) of the CTF He charged the CC with forming an ensemble of Camillian religious and lay volunteers who would be available on short notice and for a brief time to serve the pastoral and medical needs of those affected by man–made or natural disasters: earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, drought, famine, refugee camps, genocide, AIDS and other epidemics, etc. I was asked to serve on the CC even though I was only in temporary vows and a student of theology at the Gregorian University in Rome. Led by Father Antonio Menegon, the CC set out to clarify the identity and mission of the CTF. We attempted to apply the logic of the Gospel, of Christ the Divine Physician, to the ever-increasing number of natural and made–made disasters. The CC envisioned the CTF as a new way for Camillians to live the 4th vow to serve the sick even when our lives are at risk. The Commission met several times over the next year and made significant progress. However, we became somewhat frustrated when several excellent opportunities for CTF missions passed us by because of a lack of available personnel and resources. For example, the Task Force was unable to respond adequately to the earthquake of March 2001 in Gujurat, India and to that in Peru soon thereafter. The members of the CC soon realized that if the CTF was going to make headway in responding to emergencies, one or more people would need to be available for the CTF on a full–time basis. And we would also need to cooperate with others. The CC thus began to cultivate relations with Caritas Italiana, established an organizational secretary (in Turin) and started to develop a web page. But we still needed someone to animate and organize the CTF on a full–time basis. In March 2002 the Superior General of the Camillians, Father Frank Monks, nominated me. However, Father Richard O’Donnell, the Provincial of the North American Province, told me that I would have to wait until I was in perpetual vows before assuming the position. The development of the CTF slowed significantly. Twenty months later, in October of 2003, I was given permission to start working on the Task Force – only 2 months before I would find myself without my luggage in the middle of the Mexico City Airport!

I left the unclaimed–baggage area empty–handed but determined. United and Mexicana Airlines would have to deal with my lost bags because I had a flight to catch and a mission to accomplish, luggage or no luggage. I was going to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to meet a missionary team of 25 from the States – physicians, nurses, pharmacists, pre–med and pre–nursing students, physical therapists, translators and locals. Most were members of either Global Medical Relief (GMR) or Sociedad de Amigos por los Niños (SAN). GMR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group started by some students at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have dedicated themselves to serving the healthcare and educational needs of the poor sick in developing countries. The students carry out medical brigades in collaboration with medical professionals and other non–profit organizations, develop educational outreach programs and ship medical supplies. Sociedad de Amigos por los Niños is a charitable organization in Honduras started by Sister Rosa Maria Leggol, a Franciscan nun living in Tegucigalpa who has dedicated her life to serving the needs of children. Known as the “Mother Theresa of Central America”, Sister Rosa among other things has raised more than 35,000 orphans, started a rural medical clinic and sponsored numerous medical brigades. I was looking forward in a particular way to seeing Gail Johnson, the other Task Force member on this GMR–CTF–Sociedad collaborative mission and wife of Rick Johnson, the CEO at Saint Camillus Health Care Campus in Milwaukee. Gail is a middle–aged mother of two with some nursing experience who works as an English as a Second Language Teacher in Milwaukee. She wanted to do missionary work for so long, and her assistance in fundraising for this January 5–13, 2004 mission had been invaluable.

In October of 2003 I chose to collaborate with GMR and Sociedad on this mission to Honduras for several reasons:
1. I was very impressed with the zeal of the young people of GMR for serving the poor sick. They successfully completed a GMR–Sociedad mission to Honduras in March 2003 and soon thereafter were already organizing another.
2. I thought that as the CTF animator and organizer I could learn much through being a part of GMR’s pre–mission preparation that included: the recruitment of physicians, nurses and students; fund raising through making a mission brochure, letter writing, soliciting monies – at an individual, corporate and church level – and holding special events; the procurement of supplies and pharmaceuticals; arranging for air transportation, logistics, etc. I contributed to the pre–mission preparation through collecting 10 boxes of medications and supplies at Walker’s Point Medical Clinic in Milwaukee, where I often volunteered as a physician.
3. The members of the GMR seemed very open to my joining them as a Catholic priest. I mentioned my desire to celebrate mass daily while on the mission, and I was fully supported in this by the members of both GMR and Sociedad
4. I thought that working with college–age students involved in health care might be good for promoting vocations, both lay and religious.
5. Honduras has been struck by numerous earthquakes and hurricanes, most recently Hurricane Mitch in 1998. I wanted to learn more about what happened during those natural catastrophes and to make contact with the Church in Tegucigalpa as a preparation for the time when the CTF might want to return to Honduras to respond to an emergency.
6. I speak Spanish – the language of the Honduran people.
7. GMR wants to expand the breadth of its operations, i.e. establish GMR clubs at more universities and include an ever–greater number of students in medical missions at new places, e.g. Haiti. GMR would also like to begin providing dental treatment. Going on this mission might be the first of several CTF–GMR–Sociedad collaborative efforts.
8. Going on this collaborative GMR–CTF–Sociedad de Amigos mission would be a way to further clarify the identity and mission of the CTF and to give greater witness to its mission of serving the sick. A successful mission would be mutually enriching and would give more credibility to the efforts of all three organizations.

I arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras at sunset on January 5, 2004 after spending much of the day in the Mexico City Airport and switching planes in San Salvador, El Salvador. I was tired after being in route for more than 24 hours, and my bags were nowhere to be seen. I was warmly greeted by two people from Sociedad, though, one of whom was Mae Patricia Valenzuela, the organization’s director of development The rest of the missionary group had already gone to Nuevo Paraíso, the base for our brigades that is located about one hour by car from Tegucigalpa. I decided not to go to Nuevo Paraiso that night for several reasons: the road there is somewhat treacherous; driving while it was dark would be dangerous because of the violence in Honduras; I was tired. I went instead to Sister Rosa’s community, ate dinner there and then presided at mass later that evening in Spanish I felt quite at home: the door of the tabernacle was adorned with a beautiful red cross. St. Camillus, intercede for us – I prayed. What better way to begin a collaborative GMR–CTF–Sociedad mission than worshiping the Lord!

Fr. Scott Binet MD, OSCam
Animator and Organizer
Camillian Task Force

Makati City, Philippines
February 2, 2004
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Please address any comments or suggestions to Scott at SFBRome2@hotmail.com

Recent Disaster Responses – CTF Thailand – Myanmar Disaster Relief Mission #1 – Part 2

In May 2008 Cyclone Nargis devastated the Union of Myanmar (also known as Burma). It caused the worst natural disaster in the country’s recorded history. At least 146,000 people died and thousands more people went missing. CTF Thailand, SOSDRS, Salute e Sviluppo and the Camillians wanted to help those who were suffering. So after a situational analysis and with outside support, CTF Thailand chose to work in collaboration with a local partner in Myanmar – the Border Area Development Association (see CTF Thailand – Myanmar Mission #1 – Part 1 in our December 8, 2008 e-newsletter).

The CTF Thailand response to Cyclone Nargis was led by Fr. Rocco Sriprasert, the Vice Provincial of the Thai Vice–Province, and Fr. Dominic Akrapan, the Director of Camillian Hospital in Bangkok. It was Fr. Dominic who first led a reconnaissance team into Myanmar in order to do a situation analysis and to find a partner with whom to collaborate. They found the BDA, the Border Area Development Association, an NGO in Myanmar. And then together with Fr. Rocco, on May 28 Fr. Dominic developed a plan and an operating budget that included emergency aid that would provide for the livelihood, temporary shelter, food and support of 3,000 families. Because the Thai medical personnel would not be allowed to go the most affected areas, Fr. Rocco decided to provide support for Myanmar health personal through training doctors and volunteers, and providing medicines. And this effort would be supported by a base of operations in Rangoon, Myanmar – an office with staff including a director, project manager, Thai coordinator, Burmese Coordinator, translators and ancillary personnel. There would be other expenses including transportation and lodging.

Responding to disasters involves gathering many types of resources: human, material and financial – from near and far. I was far away from Myanmar when on May 20 I first started to seriously considered going to Thailand and then Myanmar to help. I was in Rome at the time at the CTF coordinator’s office. I was beginning to believe that I might really be able to get into Myanmar despite the fact that since May 2, when the Cyclone struck, the government had closed the country to foreigners – particularly Americans. Even Myanmar’s neighbors from Thailand were restricted in their movements. Then on May 30 I received a discouraging e–mail from Fr. Rocco that “The Myanmar officers are quite strict with western people but they allow with limit for Thai, Indian and some Asian people. They don't allow foreigner to enter the Irrawaddy Delta.” That news seriously dashed my hopes for going to Myanmar so I resigned myself to staying in Rome and then returning to the US to do some fundraising to support the relief effort. Given the gravity of the disaster and the ensuing need, that was the least I could do. I would also focus on trying to get Theresia Sinaga, the CTF Indonesian Coordinator, involved in the disaster response in Myanmar. Fr. Rocco welcomed both.

The preparatory work for the disaster response in Thailand and Myanmar continued. In early June Fr. Rocco sent me a list of 37 Burmese physicians (20 women and 17 men) with whom the Camillian Hospital Group Team would collaborate. They were 2 surgeons and 2 nurses from Camillian Hospital in Bangkok. These 4 would train the Burmese physicians and volunteers in the care of infected wounds, trauma and waterborne diseases.

Myanmar is divided into divisions (states) and smaller townships. Townships are composed of villages. It was the southern part of the country that was most affected by Cyclone Nargis. Fr. Rocco and the leaders of the DBA initially decided to serve primarily the people along the seashore southwest of Rangoon in the Irrawaddy Delta. They focused on 3 townships: KAWHMU; KUNGYANGON; DEDAAYE (see Yangon Division Map). In these townships they would focus on 15 villages – targeting a quantity of 3000 families.

July came and with it did a greater commitment on the part of the CTF in the US and Salute e Sviluppo to support the relief effort in Myanmar. In the US, D’Ann Fisher, Vienna Maalouf and I were already fundraising in parishes as part of the mission cooperation plan (MCP). This plan allows missionaries to enter into dioceses to speak and raise money. We went to the Dioceses of Rockford, Salinas, Syracuse, Worcester and Hartford. I even had the chance to speak at St. Ann’s Parish in Manlius , New York where I received my First Communion and was later confirmed. Praise the Lord! And Brother Luca Perletti in Rome, in his capacity as the head of the Secretariat for the Missions, was searching for funding from Caritas Italia. Brother Luca is the person with whom I most collaborate in Rome in my capacity as the CTF international coordinator. The Fr. General and the Consulta requested that the CTF provide significant financial support for the ongoing relief effort in Myanmar. We were happy to do so. We made that affirmative response official at our first SOSDRS board meeting on July 24, 25 in North Carolina. Brother Luca was in attendance along with Michael Firmin (Vice–President); Todd Binet (Treasurer); D’Ann Fisher (Secretary) and Sherman Runions.

Time passed and the Camillians in Thailand were unfortunately hindered in their plans to enter into Myanmar. According to the DBA, there were security concerns and governmental clearance problems. The Camillians did receive offers of significant financial support from Salute e Sviluppo, the CTF and the Saint Camillus Foundation in Thailand. After several months of patient waiting CTF Thailand Myanmar Mission #1 finally started on October 3, 2008. This first foray into Myanmar would last through October 10, a total of 1 week.

The delay in entering into Myanmar had allowed for a growth in the number of people who would compose the Camillian team from 5 to 8. These included:

1. Rev. Fr. Pairat Sripraseret, Vice–Provincial Superior, Camillians in Thailand
2. Rev. Fr. Dominic Ackrapan Nunthawanich, Director, Camillian Hospital, Bangkok
3. Dr. Manas Ratanachokthorani, Medical Doctor, San Camillo Hospital, Bang Pong, Rajburi
4. Mrs. Arpornphet Kongnava, Nurse, San Camillo Hospital, Bang Pong, Rajburi
5. Ms. Chadaporn Khaimarn, Hospital Administrator, San Camillo Hospital, Bang Pong, Rajburi
6. Ms. Supischa Chongpanichkajorn, Volunteer
7. Ms. Marissa Khomin Volunteer
8. Mr. Myo Thein Local Coordinator in Myanmar

The Camillian team arrived via plane in Yangon (Rangoon) on the morning of October 3, 2008. Working with the DBA, they finalized the plan for the next week. The 8–member team of CTF Thailand would be joined by 7 members of the DBA – 4 physicians and 3 other volunteers. Their mission would serve a slightly different area compared to the original plan in May/June. The focus would be on the Yangon Division – the townships of SHWEPYITHAR; HLAINGTHARYA, SOUTH DAGON, KYAUKTAN (see Yangon Division Map ) and the Ayeryawady Division – the townships of MAWKYUN and BOGALE (see Ayeyarwady Division Map )

What follows is the schedule for the mission, the ministry performed in each location and a description of the location itself. The content of this section is derived from my personal communication with Fr. Rocco.

See pictures from this mission:

Fr. Scott Binet MD, MI
International Coordinator – CTF

Recent Disaster Responses – SOS DRS Board Member Michael J. Firmin Assesses the Needs of Refugees in the Republic of Georgia

The 2008 Russia–Georgia conflict that broke out in August left much devastation in its wake. While the exact nature of the beginning of the conflict is still being debated, there is no doubt that many people suffered. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_war). While the history of the conflict is complex, that innocent people should not suffer is a simple truth. When Mike Firmin – a board member and the vice–president of SOS DRS – heard from his friends in Georgia about the devastation and the suffering there, he knew that he had to help. Mike had been to Georgia several times and had numerous connections – including Camillian ones. So after following the situation very closely, speaking with his friends on the ground in Georgia, collecting some funds, and then speaking with me about the possibility of helping, Mike set out for Georgia. (See the December 8, 2008 CTF–SOS DRS newsletter – SOS DRS Board Member sets out for the Republic of Georgia – to learn more about Mike’s preparation and his personal connections to Georgia).

Below is a report of Mike Firman’s trip to assess the needs of refugees in the Republic of Georgia. Many thanks to him for his report, the recommendations and for all Mike is doing to help the refugees.

Let us continue to pray as the members of CTF–SOS DRS did at the outbreak of the Russia–Georgia conflict. We prayed our World Mission Rosary with the following intention: That the Lord Jesus through the intercession of Saint George, the Patron of Georgia, may in His Divine Mercy bring peace and health to war–torn Georgia. May the Lord help all those affected by man-made and natural disasters in Europe.

Fr. Scott Binet MD, MI
CTF – International Coordinator

Looking Ahead – Upcoming Activities

January will be a busy month for the CTF in the US and beyond. Here are a few of the upcoming events and activities:

January 12 (CTF USA – TF SOSDRS )

At the SOSDRS headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin there will be a communications strategic planning meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to better facilitate digital and audio communications and both information and task management at the HQ and amongst the various members of the CTF network throughout the world. Ten people are expected to attend, several of whom will have information technology expertise [IT]: Dominic Surrao [Webmaster – IT]; Chris Cichantek [assistant to the newsletter and the update editor and creator] ; Mike Manske [Newsletter creator and IT Consultant – IT]; D'Ann Fisher [SOS DRS Executive Assistant]; Alice Sarry [meeting secretary, SOS DRS member]; Deacon Jack Fernan [organizational development consultant]; James Palof [IT consultant]; Charlie Sweet [Web Designer – guest of Mike Manske]; Fr. Scott Binet [Newsletter/update editor; meeting coordinator]

SOSDRS is hosting this communications strategic planning meeting in anticipation of the international CTF leaders conference that will be held from February 12–17 at the Maddalena, the Mother House of the Ministers of the Sick, in Rome, Italy.

January 14

The members of SOSDRS will begin a novena for life that will end on January 22, the anniversary of the US Supreme Court Decision of Roe v. Wade (January 22, 1973) that made the killing of children in the womb a constitutionally protected right. The members of SOS DRS will ask for the Lord’s Mercy and for a greater respect for the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. Some 50,000,000 million + unborn children have been murdered in the womb in the US since 1973 – a truly tragic man – made disaster. Please join us in prayer. If you would like to receive the novena prayers by e – mail, please contact us at secretariat@ctfmercy.org.

This novena is being promoted by Priests for Life:

Prayer of Reparation
God and Father of Life,
You have created every human person,
And have opened the way for each to have eternal life.

We live in the shadow of death.
Tens of millions of your children have been killed
Thanks to the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Father, have mercy on us.
Heal our land
And accept our offering of prayer and penance.
In your love for us,
Turn back the scourge of abortion.

May each of us exult in hearts full of hope
And hands full of mercy
And work together to build a culture of life.

We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

January 22

In accord with the prescriptions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the members of SOS DRS will observe this day as “a particular day of penance for violation to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right of life”.

January 28

The Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas – the “Angelic Doctor”. The celebration of the Eucharist is the source and the summit of the Catholic Faith. It is so for the members of CTF-SOSDRS as well. After we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we pray the following prayer composed by St. Thomas Aquinas:

Lord, Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank you, for even though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant, not because of my worth but in the kindness of your mercy, you have fed me with the precious body and blood of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion may bring me not condemnation and punishment, but forgiveness and salvation. May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of good will. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions. May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth in the power to do good. May it be my strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil impulses, bodily and spiritual. May it unite me more closely to you, the one true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with you. And I pray that you will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you, with your Son and Holy Spirit, are true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect happiness to your saints. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Many thanks to Saint Thomas Aquinas for his Eucharist–centered faith. May we all be so blessed.

If you would like to submit information about planned CTF events/activities for the upcoming month, please send them to ctf-sosdrsnewslettereditor@ctfmercy.org.

CTF–SOS DRS World Mission Rosary Devotion

“When the World Mission Rosary is completed, one has embraced all continents, all people in prayer.” – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Please join us as we pray the CTF/SOSDRS World Mission Rosary. Through this devotion, inspired in part by John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, we want to "Contemplate Christ with Mary." We pray so that that the Lord in His Divine Mercy – through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary – may build up His Kingdom, make the mysteries of the Rosary a reality in our lives, strengthen us in our common mission, and come to the aid of those for whom we pray.

We hope you already have a World Mission Rosary (see picture). If not, please contact us and we'll send you one. In the meantime, if you have a Rosary whose beads are all of one color, you can still pray the CTF/SOS DRS World Mission Rosary with us.

You may find our current World Mission Rosary intentions at http://www.sosdrs.org/rosary_intentions.asp

Prayer Requests

The members of CTF/SOS DRS believe in the power of prayer. We pray daily both during mass and when we say the World Mission Rosary for our benefactors, those affected by disasters, and those listed in our St. Camillus book of intentions. If you have a special prayer request, submit it to secretariat@ctfmercy.org or write us at SOSDRS Secretariat – 1039 East Russell Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53207

Please pray for us and our mission. Thanks. May God bless you.

Camillian Task Force Secretariat
Piazza della Maddalena, 53 Roma, Italy 00186
(T) 39-06-899-281.14 ~ (F) 39-06-899-281-33 ~ secretariat@ctfmercy.org

SOS DRS Secretariat
1039 East Russell Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53207
(T) 414-431-6503 ~ (F) 414-431-6504 ~ secretariat@sosdrs.org

SOS DRS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donations are tax-deductible.