Since the Lenten season began, parishioners entering Saint Brendan the Navigator’s two worship sites have been greeted by illuminated fountains and photos of children in need in impoverished countries.
The displays in Avalon’s Maris Stella Church and Saint Paul in Stone Harbor are meant to call attention to “Waters of Hope and Light,” the fundraising drive underway since the First Sunday of Lent to secure those critical elements for communities with little access to clean water or electricity.
The drive will culminate on Divine Mercy Sunday – April 24.
Organizers Carol Szabo and Margaret Bozzi said the displays have generated not only interest, but generosity as well.
“We used a whole wall in the atrium of Maris Stella as a bulletin board to illustrate the theme,” said Szabo, who worships at the Avalon church.
Photos from Catholic outreach programs show how wells could benefit communities without clean water and how electricity and lantern lights could help children walking home from school in the evenings. The photos are arranged under a large framed print of Jesus raising his arms toward the light of his heavenly Father.
When parishioners enter both churches, the display caught their eye. “They wanted to know what all of these pictures were about,” said Szabo, a former kindergarten teacher who has been actively involved in the parish as a cantor, lector and Eucharistic Minister for eight years.
They quickly understood, she said, that the intention of the Lenten project was to put faith in action.
Bozzi, a lifelong parishioner who worships in Saint Paul Church, said she has heard from parishioners that the sound of the fountain’s water is an attention-getter.
It draws parishioners to look at the pictures and the response is to make a donation because of the hardships the photos portrayed, she said.
Father William J. Kelly, VF, parish pastor, said he saw the project as a way of “trying to be living water of hope and light like Jesus.” He explained that the project fit in with this year’s liturgical source book and that liturgy committee volunteers were moved spiritually by its theme.
Teams of volunteers at both worship sites worked with Rosemary Mancinelli, chair of the parish arts and environment ministry, to draw inspiration from the source book’s many references to light and water.
“I’m very happy that the two churches are working together for a common goal of helping those who don’t have fresh water or electricity in other countries,” Father Kelly said.
Avalon and Stone Harbor are two beach communities that make up a small, seven-mile island off the Atlantic Ocean. The island extends one mile further out than its closest neighboring town.
Bozzi and Szabo said the island’s location and the impact it has suffered from storms may have a bearing on the project’s success thus far. “Most of seven-mile island was without power for five days about 11 years ago due to an ice storm,” Bozzi noted.
Residents who “had generators and those who didn’t lose electricity took neighbors in. Others had to go to shelters. It was a hardship,” Bozzi said. “But all were optimistic knowing there were power companies coming to restore our electricity in a few days.”
Szabo, who spoke about the project at all Masses in the parish on the first Sunday of Lent, said the drive likely struck a chord with many residents because of “personal knowledge. So many take [water and light] for granted,” she said. “But we’re offshore, right over the bridge. We have wells. If the electric goes off, we don’t have water.”
Parishioners have appreciated that the wells will lead to a safer, healthier environment and lifestyle for struggling communities and that the lights will allow children to attain a better education.
Father Kelly shared that he’s “proud [the parishioners] took this upon themselves and humble that people have been so generous in their giving.”
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