The
COURIER
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary May 31
May 2019
Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org
Sisters of Winona Area Warming Center St. Francis Respond to � Immigration Concerns Three Successful Seasons at the
By LYNETTE JOHNSON and TOM PARLIN
he Winona Area Warming Center, a program of Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota, completed its third season on March 31. Catholic Charities started a collaboration with concerned Winona community members to provide a warm shelter for the homeless starting in the winter of 2016-17. Besides the shelter, the Warming Center has provided food, laundry facilities, and information about other helping agencies in the Winona community. The outpouring of support from the Winona community - including the helping agencies, law enforcement, health care agencies, and individual community members - has been exceptional. The Warming Center's third season saw vast growth in the number of guests per night from November 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, offering overnight shelter to 53 individuals. Our compassionate volunteers made sure that we were staffed every night, including the holiday season, sometimes picking up last-minute shifts to ensure we would be open for our guests! 204 shift volunteers logged approximately 3,700 hours at the Warming Center. Additional volunteers cleaned the Warming Center every week and helped pick-up and deliver the Center’s laundry. We provided our 53 guests with a total of 1,379 nights of shelter, reaching 80.4% of our capacity and doubling the second season's numbers. Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped the Warming Center offer our fellow community members a warm, safe, compassionate place to stay during the winter months. Everyone who contributed in any way made this
By RUTH SNYDER, OSF
�e, the Sisters of Saint Francis of
Catholic Charities Parish Social Ministry Director Tom Parlin (standing L), Warming Center Coordinator Lynette Johnson (standing 2nd from L), and Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota Executive Director Bob Tereba (standing center) stand in Winona City Hall with members of the Winona Human Rights Commission, a member of Community Bible Church, and Warming Center volunteer after receiving the John Latsch Human Rights Award in August 2018.
possible! Thank you to the shift volunteers, openers and closers, laundry volunteers, cleaning volunteers, donors, and steering committee. You are the reason that, during our season, approximately eight people per night had shelter, food, clean laundry, a hot shower, and a warm bed. The Steering Committee should be commended for their constant support of the Warming Center, volunteering many
Warming Center, cont'd on pg. 4
Rochester, recognize the challenges our immigrant brothers and sisters face on a daily basis. In response to the gospel message, we ask, “How can we be silent?” Many of us actively work to meet the needs of those individuals who suffer, as we advocate for systemic and structural change in our broken Immigration system. This ministry is a part of our heritage, dating back to 1968, offering summer programs with migrants who came to work in Hollandale, Blooming Prairie, and other southern Minnesota towns; including Geneva, Bixby, Owatonna and Ellendale. Through teaching, nursing, social programs and pastoral ministry, our Sisters have continued to offer assistance and be in solidarity with immigrants in many other states, including Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Washington,
Immigration, cont'd on pg. 4
INSIDE this issue
'To Be Saints for God's Greater Glory'
page 7
When an Annulment Isn't Possible page 15
Love Your Enemies
Political page 16