Welcome to our Outreach section! Here are a few details of projects where we are helping others. To the right are pictures from our work with CHIP.

Concern for Global Social Justice and Peace

During April, let us pray for the people of West Darfur, Sudan, where renewed violence in recent months has caused massive dislocations of the civil population.

God of Life, in you we recognize that we are all part of one human family. Your love flows through us all, unites our fragile world and intricately connects each of our individual hopes, dreams and desires. At this time, gracious Creator, we lift up our brothers and sisters affected by the humanitarian crisis in West Darfur. We pray that as an international community, we may one day soon stop all the violence, provide the aid and resolve the conflict.

We ask this through Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the freedom of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

FMI or to see how you can help, log on to www.catholicreliefservices.org.

The Ecumenical Food Pantry

The Ecumenical Food Pantry is located in the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle. Eight churches in the area, including St. Patrick's, take turns supplying the pantry, alternating months. Those who are eligible to receive food are residents of Damariscotta, Nobleboro, and Newcastle, who due to illness or unemployment or other causes, are without adequate income to meet their basic needs. The pantry serves approximately fifty families or individuals every Tuesday morning between 9 and 11 a.m.

There are several ways to participate in this ministry: by picking up the food supplies; by packing and distributing the food; by donating food or money to the collections taken up at St. Patrick's on the third weekend of every month.
To volunteer, or FMI, call Mimi McConnell at 563-1561 or Bob Schollard at 832-7901.

People to People

Founded in 1967 by members of St. Patrick's, and currently housed in the Damariscotta Baptist Church, People to People is an ecumenical group that aims to meet the emergency needs of people in Lincoln County. Every Monday evening and Thursday afternoon, clothing and household items are distributed to the needy of the area. One can participate in this ministry either by donating these items (which can be dropped off at any time at the basement entrance of the Damariscotta Baptist Church), or by volunteering to sort and distribute them.
To volunteer, or FMI, call Sue Harrigan at 882-9968.

Habitat for Humanity - Local Chapter

St. Patrick's Church is a Covenant Church of Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine, a name which reflects the expanding mission of the chapter and now includes 31 towns located along seven of Maine's rivers. As Saint Patrick's draws from 13 surrounding communities, we share Habitat's mission of providing affordable home ownership for our neighbors as we also minister to their spiritual needs.
To volunteer, or FMI, call Catherine Lyons at 563-6912.

CHIP

CHIP, the acronym for Community Housing Improvement Project, began in 1984 as an ecumenical effort to help people meet their basic needs for a safe, warm, and dry place to live. Its Board of Directors is composed of representatives from thirteen Lincoln County churches, including St. Patrick's, as well as the community at large.

Under CHIP's auspices, both professional and volunteer carpenters perform a wide range of home improvements, such as: repairing leaky windows, doors and roofs; winterizing-that is, doing weather-stripping and adding insulation; fixing unsafe stairs, exposed wiring, and broken windows; making plumbing repairs; constructing wheelchair ramps and entry ways.

In September of each year, CHIP sponsors Community Cares Day, an event that brings together 100-150 volunteers, many of whom come from St. Patrick's. By working on teams led by professionals, and often assisted by the homeowners themselves, these volunteers are able to make repairs from general clean-up to roof replacement, on a dozen homes in a single day!

CHIP also provides fuel assistance during the winter months, and acts as a clearinghouse for furniture and major appliances, which are then given to those who need them. To volunteer, or FMI, call Al O'Donnell at 832-5204

"Warm Offerings"

"Warm Offerings" is an ecumenically-organized Community Supper serving all who choose to attend, whether for nourishment of body, mind or spirit - or, perhaps at times, all three. This meal is community outreach at its simplest, as volunteers prepare and serve a home-cooked meal in a warm and giving atmosphere where guests relax and visit with each other as they eat. Over the years, gatherings of as few as 15 and as many as 50 men, women, and children of all ages have been welcomed - and often sent home with an extra meal as well.

Held at 5 PM on Wednesdays, at the 2nd Congregational Church in Newcastle, "Warm Offerings" will celebrate 12 years of weekly suppers this coming June. Some churches, including Second Congregational and St. Patrick's, have been involved from the start, and St. Patrick's volunteers have provided the meal every third Wednesday since that time.

Over the years, active participants have also included Faith Baptists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, St. Andrew's Episcopal, the Society of Friends, Unitarian Universalists, and Vineyard Christian Fellowships, and some of these are still involved as and when possible.

Financial support is provided by organizations such as Rotary International, so little or no outlay of funds is ever required, and new volunteers are always welcome to take part in this small but very heart-warming community ministry.
To volunteer or FMI, call Emma Smith at 563-1886.

Ministry to the Homebound; The Hidden Treasures of the Parish

Every week, seven to nine Eucharistic ministers bring the Eucharist to members of St. Patrick's who are homebound. These homebound are invisible to most of the parish community and yet they are, as Emma Smith suggests, the "hidden treasures of our parish." Below you will find, on a rotating basis, brief biographies of some of them and the reflections of those privileged to serve them.
To volunteer or FMI, call Marie Sabin at 563-3166

Dorothy Reece and Pat Schaff minister each week to people in Cove's Edge. In addition, Dorothy brings the Eucharist to several parishioners who live in Newcastle and Damariscotta. Below are brief biographies of these people, followed by Dorothy's reflections on her ministry.

Catherine (Kate) O'Keefe (94) was born in Somerville, Massachusetts and
lived in Massachusetts all her life until retirement to her present home on River Road in Newcastle. She became familiar with this area in Maine when she spent summers going back and forth with her parents to the Wiscasset area. She worked all her mature years at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston. She had three brothers and no sisters.

June McElman (86) was born in Portchester, NY and lived in New Rochelle, NY. When she was young her family came to Maine and spent summers in Christmas Cove and in Walpole. Eventually they bought a bungalow in The Mills. Her father was an officer in the army. June graduated from Mount St. Vincent Academy and College in New York. She married Hal McElman in 1942. They had two sons. One died and the second lives in Bath. Her husband died in 1996. June's greatest pleasure in her younger years was horseback riding.

Jennie McLean: Jennie was born in Nashua, NH. After one year of high school, she left to go to work as a companion because her family was in dire need. While visiting a friend in St. George, Maine, she met her future husband, Holman. When they were first married, they worked together in Holman's Buick dealership, and after that, in whatever business they had. They lived for a while on Bristol Road. Then in their later years they each had a series of surgeries and so became joint residents in Long Term Cove’s Edge. Sadly, Holman died last June, leaving Jennie to go on by herself--but they had been married 62 years!

Mary Ferrarra (86) was born in New York City in 1920. Her parents moved to the Bronx when she was young and she was raised there and received her High School education there. She worked at Schrafts, a well known NYC restaurant chain of that time. She married and later moved to Maine. She had a daughter by her first marriage who now works as a Skilled Nurse at Cove's Edge.

Reflections of Dorothy Reece:
Being part of this Ministry to the Homebound is a privilege and a delight. Every Monday seeing the smiling faces of these beautiful people who have become my friends and spending time with them gives me the incentive to live my own life joyfully. I can truly say that I see Christ in each one of them. My hope is they are able to know that I truly care for them and that we can all be friends in the Lord. I am a blessed woman.

Bridget Collamore was born in the town of Ballycastle in County Antrim, along the northern coast of Ireland. In 1940 she went to London to train as a nurse, and she ended up nursing all through the Nazi blitz of that city during World War II.

In 1943 she met Wilson Collamore from Bremen, Maine, who was serving as a staff sergeant in the Unites States Air Force. They were married on July 3, 1945, in St. Winifred's Catholic Church in Wimbledon.

The war was ending then, so Wilson went back to his home in Maine the following November, but Bridget had to finish her nursing time, and she needed to get a visa to enter the United States, so it was not until April that she was able to leave to join her husband. She sailed April 4, 1946, from Southampton, on the S.S. John Erikson, a Norwegian ship that had been used by the American army as a hospital ship. The trip took three and a half weeks, arriving in New York on April 29. Bridget remembers the joy of seeing the Statue of Liberty at five o'clock in the morning.

Wilson was on hand to meet Bridget and take her back to Maine. They went by train from New York to Newcastle, arriving on the first of May. There were only dirt roads, Bridget remembers; no electric lights; and no houses on Medomak Road (off of which she still lives), only Osier Farm. Most of all she remembers how beautiful it was. "Beautifully untouched," she says. She found similarities between the rocky coast of Ireland and the rocky coast of Maine.

It was sixteen years before Bridget returned to Ireland. In the meantime, she had three children – Norma, Wilson Rex, and Kathleen Bernadette. They were prepared for First Communion and Confirmation at St. Patrick's by Mildred Plummer, who was active at the time in offering religious education in the parish.

Wilson was always a staunch supporter of St. Patrick's but did not become a Catholic himself until later in his life. Fr. Sims, who was then pastor of St. Patrick's, went to visit Wilson one time when he was in intensive care at Miles, and asked him if he would like to see his pastor. "I thought you were my pastor," Wilson replied. "Would you like me to be?" Fr. Sims asked. Wilson said yes, and indicated that he would like to be received into the Catholic Church. Bridget heard the news secondhand from Fr. Sims and was overjoyed.

Marie Sabin visits Robert Cavanaugh in Waldoboro and Bridget Collamore in Bremen. Reflections of Marie Sabin:

The experience of bringing Christ in the Eucharist to someone else is one that always leaves me feeling humbled and joyful and somewhat overwhelmed. I know I am not worthy of doing this; at the same time it reminds me that bringing Christ to others is what my whole life should be about. For a short time I am a better person, I believe, mindful of my loving purpose. And then, of course, I also find Christ in the person I visit; I receive far more than I am able to give. God's presence in the moment is tangible, blessing us both.

Catherine Lyons visits two women--Martha Gallagher, the mother of John and James Gallagher; and Margaret Davey, who recently moved with her husband, Dr. John Davey, to a home near the church. Margaret V. Davey was born on August 6, 1918, in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. her parents were Carl and Mitilder Vaubel Sutter. She was the seventh of nine children. She was raised in Columber Station, a farming district and suburb of Cleveland. After graduating from the local high school, she continued her education at Cleveland State Hospital, where she earned her R.N. degree. In 1945, during World War II, she enlisted in the United States Navy Nursing Corp. She was stationed at Sampson Naval Hospital where she met her future husband, Dr. John Davey, a naval medical officer. After the war, she worked in various veteran and civilian hospitals in the Cleveland area. In 1947, she and Dr. Davey were married. In 1950, they moved to Oakland, New Jersey. Dr. Davey established a medical practice there and Margaret managed the office. When they first arrived, Oakland was a rural town of less than two thousand people; the nearest doctor was five miles away and hospital was fifteen miles. Oakland rapidly expanded however, and by the time Dr. Davey retired, some forty years later, the Oakland population was approaching twenty thousand. In 2005 Dr. and Mrs. Davey moved to Newcastle to be near their daughter, Regina Davey Parsons of Nobelboro and their son, Dr. Kevin Davey of Union.

Reflections of Catherine Lyons: The Homebound Ministry brings a two-fold sense of privilege to a Eucharistic Minister. Offering the love and peace of Christ to parishioners at Mass enhances the feeling of community and defines the concept of the Mystical Body of Christ. It is a sacred and joyful experience. Bringing that same ministry into someone's home intensifies both the sanctity and the joy. Our homebound welcome Christ's presence with such gratitude, it is inspiring to those of us privileged to administer this sacrament. As Jesus went into the homes of friends in Bethany and Jerusalem bringing wisdom, grace and forgiveness, the Eucharistic Minister acts as the instrument by which He again enters the homes of those eager for His presence. No matter the level at which our homebound experience the visit, their appreciation and sense of peace is palpable and the Eucharistic Minister is spiritually enriched.

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