Members of the Mission & Outreach
Advisory Board with Alex
Pictured Left to right:
Dorola Haley, Jeanne Anderson-West, Stephanie Gualderama,
Alex Melliza, Robin Rositani, Richard Rogers, and Mike
Melliza
St. Ignatius Parish
Mission & Outreach Ministries Advisory Board is pleased
to announce the 1st recipient of the Mission and
Outreach Ministries Award, Alex Melliza, daughter of
Mike and Julie Melliza. This award will be presented
annually, to a Parish 8th grade graduate who has
exemplified a commitment to service to the least among
us, the poor, and most marginalized. You responded to
God’s call, whatever you do for the least of these my
brothers and sisters you do for me.
For it is in giving that we receive..
(St. Francis of Assisi)
The St. Ignatius Community Assistance
Ministry operates a Furniture locker (located on site) and provides
emergency assistance with food, rent, utilities, and gas. We also
provide food baskets and hygiene items at Christmas and Easter for
250 families though our Feed- A-Family program. We need you! Many
hands make light work!
Our first task in approaching an other
people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes,
for the place we are approaching is holy. Else we may find ourselves
treading on people’s dreams. More serious still, we may forget that
God was here before our arrival. (Max Warren)
This ministry reaches out to Christians and members of other faiths,
by listening and learning, sharing beliefs, respecting diversity and
learning about our faiths. It’s accepting others’ rights, respecting
their beliefs, and appreciating our common ground. It’s celebrating
our mutual ideals, praying together as we have in the Week of
Christian Unity, serving together in Sharing God’s Bounty, learning
together as we have in Sacramento Area Congregations Together.
We have all known the long loneliness and
we have learned the only solution is love,
and that love comes with community (Dorothy Day)
The mission of this ministry is to bring spiritual and emotional
support to the confined elderly in the privacy of their residence.
Currently we have 20 fully trained members serving in this ministry.
If you are in need of an EVM, or have a family member or friend who
could benefit by this ministry, please call voice mail ext. *174.
For I will restore you to health; of your
wounds I will heal you, says the Lord (Jeremiah 31:17)
We sponsor
the Parish Blood Drive, which averages 40 units, and provide Blood
Pressure Screenings to approximately 30 parishioners every other
month. Our nurses staff the Ask –A – Nurse table at our Sharing
God’s Bounty Dinners for the hungry and answer health related
questions, provide health care resources, and provide a bag of
personal hygiene items to our guests. Our nurses also collect
glasses for the Lyon’s Club during Lent. Health Ministry meets the 2nd
Tuesday in January, May, and September in the Parish Offices.
Ignatian Spirituality
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Together we can do something beautiful for
God. ((Mother Teresa)
Martha Ministers assist parishioners in providing a luncheon to
family and friends after a funeral in St. Ignatius Church. They
shop, cook, set up, serve, and clean up after a luncheon or light
reception held in the Parish Center's Garden Room. Food is both
purchased and donated, and the average size of group served is
60-80. A typical luncheon requires two-hour shifts beginning about
10:00 am and lasting until 2:00 pm or later, and linens are
laundered by the volunteers.
"Put your gifts at the service of one
another, each in the measure he has received… Thus in all of you God
is to be glorified." (1 Peter 4:10, 11)
The members of this team, through a long process of discernment,
visioning, and planning, have mapped out a vision for the future of
our parish and school that will greatly enhance our ministry, our
security, and our presence in the community. We have realized that
our community cannot provide the resources for the complete vision
in one single effort. With that in mind, we have elected to phase in
our projects to make them more practical and affordable for the St.
Ignatius Loyola family.
If one contends, as we do that the right of
every fetus to be born should be protected by civil law and
supported by civil consensus, than our moral, political and economic
responsibilities do not stop at the moment of birth. Those who
defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally
visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us.
(Cardinal Joseph Bernardin)
Ministry members commit themselves to the protection of life which
is threatened by war, the arms race, abortion, poverty, racism,
capital punishment and euthanasia. Our parish believes that these
issues are linked under a consistent ethic of life. The ministry
meets the second Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in Campion Center.
WE
ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR MINISTRY COORDINATORS – ON THE JOB
TRAINING PROVIDED!
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I
was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me; Amen, I say to you whatever you did for
one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
(Matthew 25:35, 40)
Hot dinners are provided for anyone who is hungry on the fourth and
fifth Wednesday for every month at 6:00 pm. Over the past year, more
than 5,000 meals have been served. We also have clothing, books, and
bags filled with nutritious and fresh food staples for our guests in
need. The “Ask a Nurse” table is very successful. And, after our
dinner, guests and volunteers alike enjoy BINGO games.
For the poor will never cease out of the
land; therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your
sister and brother, to the needy and the poor, in the land.
(Deuteronomy 15:11)
In 2004-2005 our parish formed sister relationships with two
international Jesuit ministries, Chikuni Mission in Zambia and
Parroquia Oscar Romero in Bonito Oriental, Honduras. Fr. Bob Glynn,
S.J. who served with us at S.I. has just returned to Africa. Fr. Jack Donald, S.J. is the pastor of
our sister church in Honduras
The struggle against injustice and the
pursuit of truth cannot be separated nor can one work for one
independent of the other. (Ignacio Ellacuria, SJ. Martyr- El
Salvador)
We provide catechesis around contemporary local and global issues in
light of the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching. We have hosted Fr.
Loren Riebe, S.J. from Chiapas, Mexico, Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. from
HomeBoy Industries in Los Angeles, Fr, Pete Neeley, S.J. from the
Jesuit Refugee Services, Fr. Ray Bourgeois, S.J. leader of SOAW ,
representatives from Wellspring Women’s Center, and Loaves and
Fishes.
Praised
are you, O God, our loving creator and giver of all good
gifts. Bless our parish, strengthen our faith and grant us
the spirit of Christian stewardship so that we may give
generously of our time in worship and prayer, our talent,
and our treasure to the spread of Your kingdom here in our
Church and throughout the world. This we ask through Jesus
Christ, Your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
What you have received from the Lord, give
as gift. (Matthew 10:8)
We promote active involvement in parish ministries and the wider
community. We organize or sponsor events such as our Parish
Multi-Cultural Food Sampling, Ministries Fair, and Annual Renewal
Campaign. We support all parish ministries and help create personal
connections between the Parish and its members. Our goal is to help
our community connect their faith with their daily lives and to see
St. Ignatius Parish as a community of people, not just a place to
attend mass.
The U. S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter entitled “Stewardship--A
Disciple’s Response” calls us to become Christian stewards. It
challenges each of us to embrace stewardship as a way to become a
disciple of Jesus--to follow Jesus and imitate his way of life.
Stewardship is the work of the Spirit in our lives. When we accept
our lives as sheer gifts, the Spirit can use us as instruments for
spreading the Gospel. All that we are and all that we have are gifts
from God. In Thanksgiving for God’s blessings we give back joyfully
a portion of our time, talent, and treasure. A Christian Steward:
“Consider this: Whoever sows sparingly will
also reap sparingly, and whoever
sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already
determined,
without sadness or compassions, for God loves a cheerful giver…”
(2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
Thomas A. Edison Elementary School Tutoring
"Every educator needs a firm hope, because the teacher is never the
one who truly reaps the fruits of the labor expended on the
students." (Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 1982, #72)
St. Ignatius Loyola Parishioners began tutoring at Thomas A. Edison
Elementary School September 2008. The school is in our parish
neighborhood and is located at 1500 Dom Way.
Because of
our church's reputation for community outreach, the principal of
Thomas Edison Elementary, Todd Lindeman, a St. Ignatius
Parishioner, and Lou Fifer, Point West Rotary Member, our partners
in tutoring, contacted our parish to ask our help in tutoring
students who are seriously struggling with basic math and reading
principles. Tutors needed:
During the school day, before and after school. Make a difference in
the education of a young student who needs assistance in his/her
formative years!
Youth Ministry
Click for Expanded Information: If God is God, that means he created every
single person on earth, out of love, for a reason.
Every single person is your brother or sister.
St. Ignatius High School Youth Group welcomes students in
and around the Sacramento area. Our Monday night gatherings include
games, movies, activities relating to our faith, off campus
activities, and an opportunity to meet new people. The Youth Group
meets the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Monday of each month form 6:30 pm – 8:30
pm in Campion Center. The 4th Wednesday of the month, we take the
opportunity to give back to the community by participating in
Sharing God’s Bounty Dinners for the Hungry from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
in the Parish Center. Our goal is to provide a wide variety of
opportunities and encouragement for all teens in a safe and fun
environment.
Catholic Social Teaching
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Volunteers Give not to see the results, but out of
love for God. We each have real and
meaningful treasures to give: our heart, our hand, our smile, our
advice, our knowledge, our skills, our imagination, our comfort, our
time, our peace, our words, to convince those who have to give to
those who have not. To whom shall we give? Look around. Give to that
sick man in the hospital, that widow who is always alone, that
friend who is so discouraged because he didn’t do well in school,
that person terribly concerned about being out of work, your little
brother who needs help, that friend in prison, that new person on
the job who feels a little lost. Christ is waiting for you in them.
(Adapted from Living City magazine)
