In the News

Prayer for Our Haiti Volunteer Group On Monday, September 9 a group of eight volunteers from St. James began their volunteer work in Haiti. They are serving for a week in Milot at the Sacré Coeur Hospital, run by the CRUDEM Foundation. A couple of the volunteers are nurses and will work with patients. The rest will be helping to restore the hospital chapel. Please keep the group and the people of Haiti in your prayers.

USCCB 2010 Labor Day Statement Bishop William Murphy addresses the importance of protecting the dignity of all workers in his statement for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, A New ‘Social Contract’ for Today’s ‘New Things'.  Click here to read the statement.

Pakistan Flood Update On Sunday, August 15, St. James Cathedral parishioners donated nearly $9,000 to support the flood relief efforts of Catholic Relief Services in Pakistan. To learn about how CRS is making a difference in Pakistan, click here.

Youth Migrant Project Thank You Thank you to St. James Cathedral Parish for your support of the Youth Migrant Project mission trip. With your help we collected over $1,100 and a couple carloads of donations. It was wonderful to be able to share these with the migrant families we met in the Skagit Valley. Your prayers strengthened us and helped us have a great week as well. To see pictures and read reflections on our trip, check out the recent our blog.

Catholic Relief Services Update: Haiti Earthquake - 6 Months Later In the six months following the earthquake in Haiti, CRS has been working to assist 900,000 made vulnerable by the devastation. Relief has come in the form of programs in food relief, emergency shelters, water provisions and sanitation, health consultations and emergency operations, seed fairs for agriculture stimulation, protection through safe zones for the vulnerable and cash-for-work opportunities.  Click here for more information. The Missions Office reports that $2,219,000 has been contributed to CRS by Archdiocese of Seattle parishes and schools, and businesses and others in western Washington – a record response from here for disaster relief and redevelopment.

Upcoming Events

Engaging Spirituality focuses on the link between spirituality and engaged compassion by emphasizing personal and collective prayer, reflection on the writings of spiritual masters, personal experiences with the poor, and contemplative dialogue in a small faith community. This 21-week program taps into ancient and contemporary wisdom and inspires participants to develop spiritual practices that keep them rooted in Gospel justice and grounded in love. Engaging Spirituality is a program of JustFaith Ministries, and is being offered for the third year here at St. James Cathedral. Sessions will be held on Thursday evenings, beginning in late October. Learn more about the program at an Information Night on Thursday, September 16, 6:30 pm, in the Pastoral Outreach Center. Information, Mary Brown at 206-335-4541; Robin Lawlor at 206-228-8144.

Winter Shelter Volunteer Training Results from the 2010 One Night Count showed over 2,750 people living on the streets of King County. With difficult economic times in our nation; we are likely to see even more people facing a homelessness crisis. As part of our response to the need in our community, St. James will again be hosting a Winter Shelter from October to April. We are gearing up for our 19th year of operation and will be holding a training for all new and returning volunteers on Sunday, September 19 at 7pm in Cathedral Hall. We are in need of overnight hosts, someone to organize our toiletries donations, and volunteers to make breakfast in the mornings. Information, Suzanne Lee at (206) 654-4640.