St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners provide a meal for the homeless shelter clients every first Saturday of each month.

Cedar Valley Habitat offers a hand-up to area families in need of safe, decent and affordable housing. SEASP assists CVH monetarily and through home building volunteers.  

Non-perishable items are collected each week at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton just inside the church entrance. Parish volunteers takes the groceries to MCO every week where they are sorted, bagged and given out to anyone in need. Many St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners volunteer at the food pantry, in the office of MCO, and for financial assistance appointments. In addition St. Elizabeth is responsible for helping to fund MCO through the agreement set up when 11 local Catholic parishes joined together in 2012 to open one place to serve the needy and hungry of our city. In 2016 MCO helped 17,409 people in 536 different families. Financial assistance of $97,112.00 was given to assist 1272 people with money for rent or utilities.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic lay organization that provides assistance to those in need. The aid comes in the form of rent/utility assistance, food assistance, furniture, and clothing. An essential part of the Society’s work is to provide help while maintaining the confidentiality and dignity of those we serve.

We contribute to the parish’s efforts to call people everywhere, and of every faith, to work toward the elimination of poverty, to speak out against injustices and to actively shape a more peaceful and just world. We strive to bring the Gospel to the world by developing social justice and service related opportunities for growth in faith and spirituality for all parishioners. The Social Justice .Commission works with local, regional and international organizations/agencies and our sister parish in Nicaragua to provide financial support and coordinate volunteer involvement.  Our efforts are faith-based and consistent with Catholic Social Teaching.
 

• Refugee Mentoring- this small team works closely with Catherine McAuley Center to assist an incoming refugee family in multiple ways for a six month period. Contact Dale March for more information at Dalecar@gmail.com
  .
• Advent Giving Tree (Nov-Dec) In 2017, the parish worked with the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program(HACAP) to provide forty plus families with specific gift requests along with a $25 Hy-Vee gift card given to each family. These are delivered to families in need the first weekend in December

• Panera Bread Delivery-The local Panera Bread restaurant donates bread, bagels and pastries left over from the day’s business to area food pantries assisting populations in need. Two days a week St. Elizabeth parishioners pick up the bags of bread in the evening and distribute them to selected organizations the following morning.

• Loose Coin Collection-Offertory basket collections of loose coins each week are used to support quarterly projects. Each project is typically and outreach ministry in the Greater Cedar Rapids community. The loose coin collection allows the Social Justice Committee to support outreach ministries beyond those already budgeted. This is a great way to get your children involved and develop a lifetime habit of giving. You’re welcome to use a plastic zip top bag if you are contributing more than a few coins. Every penny does count.

• Christmas in June-This is out summer parish food drive which provided food for over 225 people in 2017. We partner with Hy-Vee, HACAP, MCO, and Salvation Army this year.

• CRS Rice Bowl-Each Lent the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton community generously contributes to the CRS Rice Bowl project. Please coninue the tradition!

• St. Patrick/St. Joes Musical Parties at Hiawatha Care Center/Promise House. Music and singing is also provided once a month by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

 
To become involved in our Social Justice Committee please contact Maize Micek at seaspsjc@gmail.com. 
 

If you’re searching for good places to volunteer or donate please consider any of the organizations listed below.

Organizations with budget donations for FY19:
Birthright: http://birthright.org/cedarrapids/
Bridgehaven: http://bridgehavencr.org/
Catherine McCauley Center: https://cmc-cr.org/
Coalition for Life of Iowa: http://www.lifeiowa.org/About_Us.html
Discovery Living: http://discoveryliving.org/
Foundation 2: https://www.foundation2.org/donate/
Fresh Start Ministries: https://www.freshstartministriescr.com/
Habitat for Humanity (Cedar Valley): https://www.cvhabitat.org/
Horizons Meals on Wheels: http://www.horizonsfamily.org/
Knights of Columbus: https://www.facebook.com/kofc15921
Mercy Hospital: https://www.mercycare.org/volunteer-   opportunities/
Metro Catholic Outreach: http://metrocatholicoutreach.org/
Prairiewoods: http://prairiewoods.org/
St John of the Cross Catholic Worker House: http://www.catholicworkerhouse.org/
St. Vincent de Paul: http://www.crsvdp.org/
 

Diving into the pastoral letter against racism

With the racial unrest in our country in the past year, have you found yourself wanting to move beyond a political response and, instead, respond to the issue of race as a follower of Christ? What guidance does the Catholic Church offer us at this time? The Social Justice Committee is exploring just that. 

We are diving into the US Bishops' pastoral letter against racism, Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, and creating a 6-week discussion group based on their document. Would you like to be part of the creation of this important course on the Christian response to racism? We know many parishioners at St. E’s care deeply about racial healing and Christ’s call to unity in the Body, and we welcome your input this summer. Please contact any member of the subcommittee below if you would like to be a part of this exciting endeavor.

Joe Kane - jkhearth@gmail.com
Sara Kane - sarakane11@gmail.com
DeeDee Saffidi - deedeescaffidi@gmail.com
Chris Saffidi - Cscaffidi@thepacificinstitute.com
Judy Feldkamp - jafeldkamp@gmail.com
Colleen Tobiason - tobiasonc@yahoo.com
Darcy Andres - andres.darcy@gmail.com
Maize Micek - maizemicek@gmail.com 

Thank you to those who contributed to Father Jon Seda's mission, the St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center at UNI during our Mission Cooperation Appeal on July 11th. Your personal contributions amounted to $3,606. Our Social Justice Committee will contribute an additional $3,400. When we put our financial blessings together, we can do great things!

WATCH FR. SEDA'S HOMILY FROM JULY 11TH ABOUT HIS MISSION. 

ABOUT ST. STEPHEN THE WITNESS CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER

At St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center, we are responsible for about 2000 Catholic college students at UNI, Hawkeye College, and Allen Medical College.  Our mission is to form lifelong disciples who pray, serve and belong.  Over 88% of our students come from Iowa, and many of them return to communities and parishes in Iowa.

These years on campus are critical for the faith of our young people.  About 36% of millennials consider themselves to have no religion, the “nones.”  Of all of the Catholics baptized in the past 30 years, half no longer participate in the life of the Church.  Of those Catholics who leave the practice of their faith, 80% do so by the age 23.  On campus, other churches are actively inviting Catholic students away from the Church.  What we do here matters.

We actively reach out to our students in collaboration with four missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), who are very effective in forming college students in a mature Catholic faith.  They coordinate over 183 students who meet weekly in small group Bible studies.  They also work one on one with students to show them how to evangelize others.

We also form students through two Sunday Masses, daily Masses, the Sacrament of Reconciliation three times a week, retreats like Antioch and the Midwest FOCUS retreat, an annual national FOCUS conference during Christmas break, local service opportunities to encounter the poor, and spring break and summer service / immersion trips. 

Each Wednesday evening is our popular Primetime Mass, which is preceded by an hour of Eucharistic adoration.  About 80 students participate each week.

This past year was our second year with FOCUS.  One small but telling example of what is happening is that the number of students coming to daily Mass has quadrupled, from seven to twenty-eight.

This past fall, our students organized and delivered 285 Thanksgiving food baskets to help food insecure families in the Cedar Valley.  Our Lenten tithing gave over $4000 to the NE Iowa Food Bank.

This past year, four students participated in the RCIA process, and were fully initiated into the life of the Church.  We also prepare engaged couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony.

We offer opportunities for discernment for priesthood and religious life.
Our staff is two full time persons and two part time persons (including the priest.)  We also pay $17,000 a year for each of the four FOCUS missionaries.  We hire four UNI students to serve ten hours a week as peer ministers, in the areas of liturgy/music, service and justice, community life, and marketing/outreach.
We are not a parish, and do not receive ongoing support from the archdiocese.  Our budget for 2020-2021 is about $336,000.  Our support comes from the students, community members who join us for Masses, alumni, friends, parents, parish appeals, our endowment, this mission cooperation, and generous benefactors from the larger Church who see the need for a vibrant presence of the Catholic Church on a state university campus.

We are most grateful for those who support our mission, financially and prayerfully.  We know that we need do our part, but it is the Lord who does the heavy lifting.