Pastor’s Letter: March 9, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: March 9, 2025

7 Mar 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! I hope that you have had a fruitful beginning to Lent through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This week, I wanted to share with you about an additional almsgiving opportunity next weekend. As you may know, almsgiving comes from a word which means “pity” or “mercy.”  Our Catechism teaches, “Almsgiving is money or goods given to the poor as an act of penance or charity.” According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “any material favor done to assist the needy, and prompted by charity, is almsgiving.” So, while almsgiving is certainly about caring for the needs of people in a material way, caring about people in a loving way is also a critical part of giving alms. We’ll have such an opportunity next weekend with a second collection for Destiny for Women Health Center.

Many are already familiar with the work of the Women’s Care Center, which our parish has generously supported with a special collection for some time now, including last year’s Trunk or Treat event entrance and the second collection at Masses that weekend. Of course, we will continue to support all the great work happening there. When I started here as pastor, Fr. David and I talked about having an additional collection to support another great outreach here in Peoria: Destiny for Women Health Center on Knoxville Avenue. No doubt, there is great need in our area for people in the midst of crisis pregnancy—it is a good gift to know there are multiple options to help meet those needs. From info they shared with our parish about their work: “Destiny for Women is a Christian women’s health clinic that serves women experiencing a crisis pregnancy. We meet with women to determine their vulnerability to abortion. We then share that we care about the health of the whole person: social, physical, and spiritual, and we offer them a spiritual conversation.  Over 95% of our patients welcome the opportunity to talk about something that really matters. As a result, women begin praying, attending church, dedicating their lives to Christ, and even becoming baptized.” Continuing, “we began offering prenatal care in order to expand the opportunity to reach the hearts and souls of the women we serve as well as fill the gap in the availability of prenatal care for women who have Medicaid.”

Destiny for Women offers wide-ranging support for women in need, including pre-natal care, abortion pill reversal, a PhD counselor, medical clinic, STI testing, and ultrasounds. Additionally, Destiny for Women also offers needed items like cribs and strollers. At the heart of their work is an invitation to faith through spiritual conversation about God. Some highlights from a recent newsletter covering the last year:

• 688 New patients
• 406 Pregnancy Tests
• 36 Prenatal patients
• Over 550 Spiritual Discussions

If you would like more information about this great outreach or other ways to support their work, visit their website: DestinyForWomenFriends.com

As I mentioned earlier, we’ll plan a second collection next weekend to support Destiny for Women Health Center. As we continue on our Lenten journey toward the victory of Easter, know of my prayers for all of you. Sending everyone a blessing this day!

In Christ,

Father Luke