“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Matthew 5:7
Our Lord encourages us with a timely reminder about what our actions truly should be – to be
merciful to others. When we are called to action in the Catholic community, there are many
ways we can make a difference by working together in the lives of those in need. In essence,
ShareLife becomes the connective bridge between the pulpit and the street. One of these
connections is about Sophie, a young person from Youth In Transition, a ShareLife supported
program at Covenant House. Sophie battled with anxiety, depression, seizures and suicidal
thoughts and this is her story.
When Sophie’s mom was angry at the world, it was Sophie who would suffer. Her mom was
overwhelmed and alone with six kids. They were all boys except Sophie, so her mom would be
especially hard on her. She would escape the chaos around her by keeping to herself and
listening to her music, but most days her mother would wrench her out of her solitude by yelling
and berating her. As a result, Sophie began to lean on her friends for comfort and advice. They
introduced her to drugs and alcohol, which took the edge off of her pain, but it, was not long
before she was caught in a downward spiral.
“I had a bad addiction and I was just so stressed,” Sophie shares. “My mom said she was tired of
my drama and she thought I was just doing it for attention, so she kicked me out.”
When Sophie came to Covenant House, she was struggling with anxiety, depression, seizures
and suicidal thoughts. A community formed around Sophie at Covenant House that gave her the
kind of care and compassion she did not get from her large but fragmented family. She received
a lot of support from our Health Clinic nurses and counselors, as well as the workers in our crisis
shelter.
When Sophie’s workers told her about our culinary arts program, Cooking for Life, which
prepares youth for a career in the hospitality industry, she applied immediately. Growing up, she
remembered that cooking was always celebrated in her extended family. For Sophie, cooking
was a perfect fit. Not only did she pick up the skills quickly in our teaching kitchen, but she
rediscovered her outgoing personality. With her Cooking for Life classmates, she became a
confident leader in the kitchen. Sophie then landed her dream job, working in stadiums for
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
With the help of our staff, Sophie found a good apartment. She also met a supportive boyfriend
and she is proud to be three years sober, a great example to her younger, extended family. Sophie
is attending the culinary skills program at Humber College and she is enjoying the challenge.
“Ever since being in Covenant House, my life has changed a lot,” Sophie shares. “Staff is very
supportive. Covenant House helped me get a job, get my own place, and be a healthier, better
person.”
As a Catholic community, we are encouraged to show mercy to those around us. Sophie is just
one of the over 114,000 people from across our archdiocese who turn to a ShareLife agency for
help each year. Families in crisis, people with special needs, the elderly, children and youth, and
immigrants and refugees receive loving care and support through our network of social service
agencies, providing service to the greater community regardless of religious affiliation. In
addition, our annual appeal provides for the education of our priests and deacons, as well as
supports chaplaincy programs in our hospitals and nursing homes. We also assist our brothers
and sisters in Christ through the Pastoral Mission Fund, Development and Peace, and Canadian
Food for Children.
When Archbishop Pocock established ShareLife in 1976, he was continuing a tradition within
the Catholic community of fulfilling the Gospel value of showing mercy to others. Our first
Bishop, Michael Power, died of typhus while helping immigrants who had escaped the great
famine in Ireland. The Houses of Providence, now Providence Healthcare, were established
back in the 1850’s at the request of Bishop De Charbonnel. More recently, Cardinal Collins has
formed the Office of Refugees within the archdiocese to assist families fleeing persecution in
their homeland due to religious beliefs. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary of the ShareLife
campaign, it is indeed a continuation of doing good for our neighbour, both near and far, that our
archdiocese has shown for over 170 years.
Our Catholic Family Service agencies have initiated walk in clinics to help provide immediate
counseling to address issues; in some instances, one session is all that is needed to provide much
needed support. This model has been so successful that, in one region, the provincial
government has provided half a million dollars in new funding to support this program, with our
Family Service agency being the lead and largest recipient. We also have recognized the need to
take steps to address orphaned seniors, an ever-growing need in in GTA. According to Statistics
Canada, 20% of older people in Canada report that they are lonely, and approximately 84% of
seniors were living alone. Working with the local Catholic Family Service agency, a new
program to support outreach to isolated seniors in Peel Region and Simcoe County will be
implemented in six parishes. The program aims to connect trained volunteers with seniors living
in isolation to provide support in their daily lives, as well as to connect them to local resources
available in their community. Thus, by contributing to ShareLife, you have helped to make these
programs possible.
For many of our agencies, ShareLife funding represents a significant portion of the funding they
require to carry out much needed programs and services, thus the importance of our annual
appeal cannot be understated. Each year, in our parishes, our schools, and from corporations
across the archdiocese, over $14 million is raised to support the work of our forty-two agencies,
and with a low cost ratio of just ten percent, we ensure that the maximum amount possible is
directed to those who need our help the most. Thus, it is important that we continue to support
ShareLife to the greatest extent possible so that these agencies can continue their work in helping
the marginalized, both here in our communities and around the world.
Our parish goal for ShareLife is 12.95 million. Today I ask for your support for the 2016
ShareLife campaign. If you contribute to ShareLife each year, we thank you and ask for your
continued support again this year. If you have not made a contribution to ShareLife in the past,
please consider doing so in support of our 2016 appeal (you can note that envelopes are in the
pews, or that parishioners should have received a direct mail package.) Each contribution, no
matter how much, will help to meet our goal. More importantly your donation will help people
like Sophie, or the hungry child overseas receiving food through Canadian Food for Children, or
the patient in a hospital who receives a visit from a priest – all of this and more made possible by
our support of ShareLife.
We are encouraged to show mercy to those around us. Through our ShareLife campaign, we
have the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment. In closing, I encourage you to do just that,
to respond to this opportunity and work wonders in the lives of those less fortunate.