By SUSAN DE MATTEO

TYLER –  Care for the poor has always been a hallmark of the Catholic faith, and it is no different in the Diocese of Tyler.

Parishes large and small – from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler to Mary Queen of Heaven in Malakoff  – struggle with the same economic problems that grip the nation at large, yet somehow still manage to find ways to serve those most in need of help.

“You do it because it has to be done,” said Sam Messina of Mary Queen of Heaven. “It’s what we’re supposed to do.”

For small parishes like MQH, though, doing what needs to be done can be a challenge.

“We’re not a big parish,” Messina said, “and we don’t have a lot of money. We’re in kind of a rural areas, and our people are struggling with the same issues that everyone else in the country is right now. Because of the economy, people just don’t have a lot of money to donate.”

Even so, parishioners do what they can.

“We have a very high level of poverty in our area,” Messina said. “We have kids who come to school in winter with shoes taped together and no coats. We have kids whose parents can’t afford new clothes at the start of the school year. It’s a hard thing to see.”

So Mary Queen of Heaven Outreach tries to help.

“We started about five years ago,” Messina said, “when Father (Anthony) McLaughlin was pastor here. He wanted to organize a St. Vincent de Paul Conference, but we just didn’t have the number of people. And, really, we decided we wanted to be a little freer, not bound by the rules of St. Vincent de Paul. So we just have a small group of people who do what we can.”

Last month, the Outreach helped more than 150 local children get ready for school with at least one complete outfit each. In addition to clothing young people, Outreach members give them prayer books and add their families to the church’s prayer list, offering spiritual support as well as material.

“It’s God’s care of people that’s important,” said Sally Keenan, who, like Messina, has been involved with the Outreach since it began.

In other areas of the diocese, though, the St. Vincent de Paul Society has become the chief vehicle for charity. That ministry has grown so much since the diocese’s founding almost 25 years ago that a diocesan St. Vincent de Paul Council was established about four years ago to help coordinate individual conferences.

“We have 11 conferences in the diocese,” said Carolyn Quenneville, a parishioner at Holy Family Church in Lindale and president of the St. Vincent de Paul Council. “And, for a long time, we all sort of operated independently, just kind of all doing our own thing. But that’s not really how St. Vincent de Paul is supposed to work. So (Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ) established the council, to pull us together into a cohesive body. The conferences report to the council, the council reports to the region, and so on up the chain.”

In return, she said, the conferences benefit greatly.

“What a council can offer is resources, training, a network,” Quenneville said. “No parish conference ever has to go through anything alone. No matter what your difficulties are, as a council we can put you in touch with someone who’s been there, done that, and has a solution. You don’t have to reinvent everything every time.”

Training is critical, she said.

“When someone comes to a St. Vincent de Paul office seeking help,” she said, “they may only ask for clothing. Or food, or money to pay a utility bill. But their needs may be far greater than that. St. Vincent de Paul members can make home visits. We can interact with the clients and assess the real extent of their needs. And then we can start bringing together the resources that can truly help.”

And for that to work, she said, St. Vincent de Paul conferences have to be familiar with agencies in their communities, with what other churches and organizations offer, and join their efforts to the wider ones.

“What we’re seeing more and more in East Texas,” Quenneville said, “is that our St. Vincent de Paul conferences are becoming part of the community, that they’re active in and known by the community. It used to be that most folks in East Texas thought Catholics had horns. Now, they’re starting to know better. We’re becoming accepted, and that only helps us help the poor.”

Conferences can also focus on different ministries. In Lindale, the conference sponsors Holy Family Kitchen, where hot, homemade meals are served on weekends. In Palestine, the conference operates a large thrift store that helps fund its operations. In Tyler, the conference gives out food and clothing and will help with utility bills, but it also sponsors an Angel Tree every Christmas, ensuring that needy children get presents, and summer mission trips to a sister parish in Saltillo, Mexico, serving a variety of needs.

“That’s what people need to understand,” Quenneville said; “there isn’t just one kind of need, one kind of poverty. Poor people come in every size, shape, color and age. And many, many of them work. Or are elderly. There’s no true ‘profile’ for the poor.”

As a volunteer with the Holy Family Kitchen, she sees a bit of everything. “We have families who reach the end of the month with more expenses than paycheck,” she said. “We see single mothers or fathers who want to be sure their kids have at least one hot, home-cooked meal a week. We have elderly clients who live on a fixed income and who cannot afford a restaurant, but who want an evening out. And we have what we call the ‘skateboard boys,’ kids who come in on their skateboards without their parents and eat. We’re that safe place where they can get nutritious food, and where they can stay out of trouble.”

The kitchen also serves an educational purpose, as does any ministry to the poor, she said.

“We have volunteers who come to us from high school National Honor Societies, and those kids are amazed when they see just how many people come in, and how great the need is,” Quenneville said. “For many of them, it’s their first face-to-face encounter with the poor, and they’re always stunned to see people, some their own age, who have so much less than they do. It’s eye-opening.

“When we think about East Texas,” she said, “we don’t think about poverty. We don’t really want to believe that poverty exists here. But it does. It’s all around us. And, as Christians, it’s our responsibility to take care of these people who need help. Christ himself has commanded us to do this.”

But, even in beautiful East Texas, the problem of poverty is a vast one and has many facets. No one single St. Vincent de Paul conference or parish outreach ministry can tackle the problem alone.

That’s where Catholic Charities-East Texas comes in.

“We’re a support agency,” said director Nell Lawrence. “In a diocese as big as ours, and with as few resources as ours, there’s no way we could operate Catholic Charities the way they do in, say, Dallas or even Beaumont, with an agency which provides the services to individuals. Where would we start? So we decided from the beginning that our role would be to support those ministries and agencies, like St. Vincent de Paul or community food banks, that were already doing that work.”

That support is crucial. Catholic Charities can procure grants and loans that individual parish- or community-based groups couldn’t, and can then distribute those funds to the groups. Through Catholic Charities, small parish or community organizations can set up accounts with the Regional East Texas Food Bank, which provides food for several “food drop” locations throughout East Texas.

“Our job isn’t to do what St. Vincent de Paul and others are doing,” said Lawrence. “Our job is to help them to their job better.”

As a result, her agency is always looking for ways and programs to enhance what parishes can do.

“Right now,” Lawrence said, “we’re pushing the community gardens program. Even the smallest parish, even just a handful of families, can grow a garden to support St. Vincent de Paul or the local food pantry. Fresh produce is something so many people who live in poverty go without. It’s just so expensive at the grocery store.

“But gardening is a way of life here; we have people in our parishes who grew up on farms and have been growing things all their lives. Why not put that skill, and that passion, to use for the poor? Our Lady of Sorrows in Jacksonville has been doing this for several years, and they’ve had great success. St. Therese in Canton (where Lawrence is a parishioner) has also done this. But we did it with our youth group, getting young people involved. And we paired them up with older parishioners, so it became a wonderful collaborative effort between old and young.

“It brought the kids and the older people together, allowed them to get to know each other, and it also provided fresh vegetables for people who otherwise wouldn’t have them. There were positives everywhere we looked,” she said.

“But to do these things, you have to have people who are committed to the care of the poor, who take Christ’s words and actions to heart, and I think we have that here,” Lawrence said. “East Texas is a wonderfully kind and generous place, and we see that in our ministries. Churches that shouldn’t be big enough or rich enough to have an outreach do, and do it with amazing success. People who have their own lives, their own concerns their own struggles, still give of themselves to others. It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”

Even so, she said, there is always a need for even more hands to do the work.

“We always need volunteers,” she said. “Here at Catholic Charities, we always have a desperate need for volunteers. I know it’s the same with St. Vincent de Paul and in every community pantry or agency I visit. There are so many people with needs out there, and the numbers are only growing. And we need people with whatever skills anyone reading this his got. We need you. Christ needs you.

“Because, really,” Lawrence said, “that’s who we’re working for. We’re serving the poor in Christ’s name. These are his people, and that makes them our people. Our faith compels us to care for them.