Parish Outreach Ministry
The Parish Outreach Ministries provide various opportunities and ways to promote an awareness of social justice issues and outreach both within and outside our community of faith.
Outside Our Parish Community:
Respect Life Committee
The Respect Life Committee mobilizes Parish energies to work on behalf of life. This includes issues dealing with the sick and terminally ill, abortion, biotechnology, the elderly, and the needs of families. This Ministry serves the unborn child and his or her mother and father, by keeping before our eyes the fact that God is Creator of human life, and that we must remain in His presence at the time of procreation and at all times afterward. A respect for human life from conception to natural death is paramount. The Respect Life Committee coordinates the annual Baby Bottle Campaign drive wherein parishioners take baby bottles made available by the Respect Life Ministry and fill them with change/bills to help support Mothers’ Home, disperses information, and conducts similar activities related to Respect Life issues. Opportunities to serve include attending the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January; supporting the annual Baby Bottle Campaign; praying the Rosary for the unborn; assisting in the organizational and promotional activities of the ministry; distributing materials; and participating in the annual Pro-Life Liturgy.
Aid for Friends
Aid for Friends volunteers make dinners on trays provided by Aid for Friends and deliver them to the Parish freezer. Parishioners may designate an Aid for Friends client whom they visit once a week delivering dinners. Opportunities to serve include food preparation, delivery of food, and visiting a designated Aid for Friends client on a weekly basis.
Catholic Charities Appeal Committee
The Catholic Charities Appeal Committee works to encourage parishioner participation in the annual Archdiocesan Catholic Charities Appeal. Funds from the Appeal go directly to provide services to persons in need in the Philadelphia region. Opportunities to serve include committee membership, leadership, and publicity.
Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (PIHN)
PIHN is a program that unites churches, synagogues, and meeting houses to host families in transition and provide shelter, meals, mentoring, and comfort during the period they are awaiting placement in permanent housing. It is a “shelter that’s not like a shelter.” OMC has been part of the Network since 1993. We partner with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to provide volunteers in three areas: dinner, companionship, and overnight. St. Paul’s provides the accommodation component usually once a year for two to three weeks. OMC volunteers help for one of those weeks. PIHN has been recognized for outstanding results achieved over the years. Hundreds of families have been placed in permanent homes and because of mentoring programs; many adults have obtained employment or enrolled in schools. Opportunities to serve: Volunteer for OMC/St. Paul’s scheduled dinner, companionship and overnight once a year.
Inside our Parish Community:
Caring Hearts: A Prayer Shawl Ministry
This outreach ministry of OMC is one of compassion and care. Members knit and/or crochet, creating shawls and lapghans for the sick at home, in nursing homes and in hospice care. Parishioners and Eucharistic Ministers to the Sick take the shawls to the people they visit, bringing the love and greetings of our entire parish community.
Hospitality Ministry
Inspired by the Gospel message “to welcome the stranger,” members of the OMC Hospitality Ministry reach out to visitors and parishioners both old and new. They welcome them into the Parish and enhance the experience of Parish functions. The Hospitality Ministry mission is to foster friendship and develop a common Catholic identity within the Parish. Members offer opportunities for socializing and coordinating activities to encourage more active participation in Parish Life.
Outside Our Parish Community:
Respect Life Committee
The Respect Life Committee mobilizes Parish energies to work on behalf of life. This includes issues dealing with the sick and terminally ill, abortion, biotechnology, the elderly, and the needs of families. This Ministry serves the unborn child and his or her mother and father, by keeping before our eyes the fact that God is Creator of human life, and that we must remain in His presence at the time of procreation and at all times afterward. A respect for human life from conception to natural death is paramount. The Respect Life Committee coordinates the annual Baby Bottle Campaign drive wherein parishioners take baby bottles made available by the Respect Life Ministry and fill them with change/bills to help support Mothers’ Home, disperses information, and conducts similar activities related to Respect Life issues. Opportunities to serve include attending the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January; supporting the annual Baby Bottle Campaign; praying the Rosary for the unborn; assisting in the organizational and promotional activities of the ministry; distributing materials; and participating in the annual Pro-Life Liturgy.
Aid for Friends
Aid for Friends volunteers make dinners on trays provided by Aid for Friends and deliver them to the Parish freezer. Parishioners may designate an Aid for Friends client whom they visit once a week delivering dinners. Opportunities to serve include food preparation, delivery of food, and visiting a designated Aid for Friends client on a weekly basis.
Catholic Charities Appeal Committee
The Catholic Charities Appeal Committee works to encourage parishioner participation in the annual Archdiocesan Catholic Charities Appeal. Funds from the Appeal go directly to provide services to persons in need in the Philadelphia region. Opportunities to serve include committee membership, leadership, and publicity.
Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (PIHN)
PIHN is a program that unites churches, synagogues, and meeting houses to host families in transition and provide shelter, meals, mentoring, and comfort during the period they are awaiting placement in permanent housing. It is a “shelter that’s not like a shelter.” OMC has been part of the Network since 1993. We partner with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to provide volunteers in three areas: dinner, companionship, and overnight. St. Paul’s provides the accommodation component usually once a year for two to three weeks. OMC volunteers help for one of those weeks. PIHN has been recognized for outstanding results achieved over the years. Hundreds of families have been placed in permanent homes and because of mentoring programs; many adults have obtained employment or enrolled in schools. Opportunities to serve: Volunteer for OMC/St. Paul’s scheduled dinner, companionship and overnight once a year.
Inside our Parish Community:
Caring Hearts: A Prayer Shawl Ministry
This outreach ministry of OMC is one of compassion and care. Members knit and/or crochet, creating shawls and lapghans for the sick at home, in nursing homes and in hospice care. Parishioners and Eucharistic Ministers to the Sick take the shawls to the people they visit, bringing the love and greetings of our entire parish community.
Hospitality Ministry
Inspired by the Gospel message “to welcome the stranger,” members of the OMC Hospitality Ministry reach out to visitors and parishioners both old and new. They welcome them into the Parish and enhance the experience of Parish functions. The Hospitality Ministry mission is to foster friendship and develop a common Catholic identity within the Parish. Members offer opportunities for socializing and coordinating activities to encourage more active participation in Parish Life.