Talk story
“Let the church always be a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven.” (Pope Francis)
In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Catholic Relief Services is offering a mobile device app for its Lenten Rice Bowl program that focuses on hope. The CRS Rice Bowl app provides a daily prayer reflection, brief weekly videos telling “stories of hope” from countries around the world, recipes from these countries and a “calculator” to help compute your Lenten almsgiving.
Last year, the diocesan Office for Social Ministry invited Hawaii Catholic schools to take part in a Rice Bowl “App Challenge.” Using the app, students read daily prayers inspired by Catholic social teaching and wrote reflections. They also viewed weekly videos and wrote letters to the persons featured in each story.
This year, the number of schools participating in the app challenge has grown from four to 12. The number of classes has jumped from seven to 24. Last year, 65 students did the challenge; this year there are 464! Because of the amazing increase in participants, diocesan staff members were invited to be “readers” for each class. This Lent, 19 chancery employees are receiving, reading and recording the letters, prayers and reflections our middle school students are writing, expressing their understanding of mercy and hope in our world today.
Catholic social teaching inspires and guides how we live and work. Rice Bowl reminds us that the sacredness and dignity of the human person are the fundamental principles of Catholic social teaching. God created us in his image and likeness. We need to care for each other so that we can be the people God calls us to be, a reflection of his mercy.
Rice Bowl’s daily prayers also celebrate new saints who are examples of mercy in action, saints such as St. Josephine Bakhita from the Darfur region of Sudan in Africa. At the age of 7, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. She eventually became a religious sister caring for the suffering poor. Today she is a patron saint of human trafficking victims.
This year, Rice Bowl includes a story of hope about a woman named Odette in Rwanda, Africa, where, after years of violent civil war, most children do not receive proper nutrition. Despite difficulties and dangers, Odette started working with CRS before she gave birth to her daughter Olga to ensure that her child would receive proper care during her crucial first 1,000 days of life.
CRS is working with communities in Rwanda to end child malnutrition. It supports health programs and teaches families to grow crops that provide food and income. With a loan from her CRS micro-lending group, Odette started a business selling fertilizer to support her family. She also attended classes on growing and preparing healthy food so that her daughter will be a healthy reflection of God’s merciful, hopeful creation.
Our next Talk Story will report on Rice Bowl activities during the month of March, such as the Oahu Lenten Aina Retreat at Hoa Aina o Makaha on March 5, a fair trade event by CRS student ambassadors at the Kamiano Center on March 16, and the Women Strengthening Women Good Friday Evening Celebration of Transformation at Kapiolani Community College on March 26.
For more on Hawaii Rice Bowl activities and the middle school app challenge, visit www.catholichawaii.org/2016ricebowl.
Mahalo.
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
