Author: Pat Smiley

Posted on by

All Are Invited and Welcome

Frankford has a rich history of faith and believers. We are blessed with many denominations whose people are active and live their beliefs. We believe in a spirit of interfaith dialogue which helps to connect us all.

Keep the Faith in Frankford is a group of Catholics whose two churches were closed in June 2013. St. Mark’s Church kindly invited us in and has graciously allowed us to meet there and make plans to try to reopen at least one church. We meet every Wednesday night at 6:30 PM. We realize that we have been given a responsibility to care about our brothers and sisters and are trying to do our best to help make Frankford a better place for all.

We would like your support and help with some of our activities. If you are interested, please join us this coming Wednesday night, April 29, at St. Mark’s at 6:30 PM. More information is shared below.

Parishioners Pilgrimage Small

Posted on by

Time To Buy Your Tickets!

Ten days and counting down to what will be a fun-filled, music packed, foot stomping and energetic afternoon at The Philadelphia Ballroom! Keep the Faith in Frankford is holding their annual fundraiser to support our efforts to reopen St. Joachim Church in Frankford (there is no Catholic Church in Frankford after St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa were closed). Our Church is rooted in the teachings of Jesus with a strong emphasis on social justice. We still meet weekly (after 20 months)  to provide programs and

Yardley United Methodist Church Youth Group helps us the Dining with Dignity program feed the hungry in Frankford.

Yardley United Methodist Church Youth Group helps us the Dining with Dignity program feed the hungry in Frankford.

activities for our community in Frankford. All are welcome at our meetings. We honor all religions that honor and respect each and every person. Some of our community events include – we participate in the Dining with Dignity program and serve 80-120 community residents with a hot meal and a bagged 26 Picturedinner. We do this every 6-8 weeks. We also do community events like a holiday party for single mothers in a local transitional home. I was so surprised thinking the kids would be older – they were infants up to 3 years old. Some of you even donated toys. We also did a community fair for local residents. We brought textbooks and materials from St. Gregory the Great Catholic School in Virginia Beach, VA to the Stearne School here in our community. We are the Catholic presence in Frankford, which we will continue whether our church reopens, or not.  We want to be able to expand our programming this year, too!

But it takes your generous support. We are very pleased to be able to have The Heartbeats band as our “star attraction”. Won’t you be a “star”, too, and support our worthy cause. See you on Sunday, March 22.

 

Microsoft Word - Dance Party Flyer.docx

Posted on by

Turning Points for Frankford!

IMG_6365As a St. Joachim parishioner, I’m glad an organization such as Turning Points for Children has rented our rectory for its programs. You can read more about their mission here. This is a good purpose for our now vacant rectory.

Bob and I recently attended the grand opening of the new community emergency food pantry for families living in the 15th Police District. Notice that it is for emergency needs mainly. It was my pleasure to meet two volunteers there when we went. One is Louise Bundy and the other is Latasha Sloan. These women are very happy to assist families and children who are struggling during hard times for many.

IMG_6364

(l-r) Pat Smiley, Louise Bundy, Latasha Sloan

FAWN also supplies nutritional information and infant formula and diapers for families meeting income guidelines. You can make an appointment to use the pantry by calling 267.236.1558. Use is by appointment only. Located at 4346 Frankford Avenue, Unit 2 (in the shopping center with Quickie Mart Express and PNC bank), FAWN is open Wednesdays, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM, Thursdays and Fridays, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM.

Posted on by

Emergency Preparedness – the Time is Now!

IMG_6339If you and your family were faced with a real emergency, would you be ready? Would you know what to do? Our Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management (OEM) wants you to be ready for anything. And they are doing their best to prepare us. In late September, a Ready Philadelphia or Not? workshop was held at Campbell AME Church on Kinsey St. Led by Joan Przybylowicz, Deputy Director for External Affairs, Emergency Management, Kelly McNamara and Detective Joseph P. Rovnan, Philadelphia Police Department, Counter Terrorism Operations this workshop informed us on preparing for emergencies – whether  they be the ones requiring us to “shelter in place” or to evacuate.  The good news is that many of the informative handouts and information can be found on the OEM’s website – Ready Philadelphia.

We were not able to stay for the entire presentation but here’s just some of the invaluable information that was shared and that we need to act on if we are going to be ready for unexpected events. Of course, we know that extreme temperatures (hot and cold), water pipes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and outbreaks of disease can occur anytime. Hopefully, we receive warnings and have a short amount of time to prepare. But what if we don’t? Do you have enough cash money, food, water, medicine, etc. on hand if you would have to shelter in place? In the case of fires, explosions. utility outages, building collapses and heavy snow affecting the stability of roofs, do you know where you can go or where you would meet with your family members. If you have to evacuate from your house, where would you go? First choice would be to go to other family members and stay with them until the emergency is over. Schools are also the first places that are set up for neighborhood emergencies. All city shelters are pet-friendly.

The time to prepare for an emergency is before it happens. Visit Ready Philadelphia where you can listen to an audio version of the emergency preparedness guide and download a print version of the Ready or Not? guide that includes activities and information for you and your family to use together to get ready for any emergencies you might have to face.

This information is not for “if you need it” but “when you need it”. You only need to pick up the paper, browse online or watch the latest news to see that many of us are experiencing real emergencies every day! Make sure you and yours are prepared. To schedule a workshop, contact oem@phila.gov or call 215.683.3261.

 

Posted on by

St. Joachim – In the Shadows No More

WMF icon What follows is a letter written by a member of St. Joachim Parish, who is himself also a grandfather like St. Joachim, explaining his thoughts following the unveiling of the World Meeting of        Families’ Holy Family Iconic Painting. Jack was also inspired to write a hiaku about this matter:

Holy Family Icon

“Where is Grandfather?”

“He’s hidden in the shadows.”

Humility rocks!

As a grandfather, it was good to see St. Joachim included in the portrait of the Holy Family by Neilson Carlin. Unfortunately, he seemed to be standing in the shade. In the Inquirer photo of the painting (September 8, 2014), he disappeared completely. Perhaps the artist could touch up his image a bit and bring him out of the shadows.

As a member of St. Joachim’s Parish, I am more concerned to bring his namesake church out of the shadows where it was consigned by Archbishop Charles Chaput in May of 2013. Since then, despite being designated a “Worship Site” of Holy Innocents Parish, only two feast day Masses and a few funerals and weddings have been celebrated at St. Joachim’s. The statue of Mary in her father’s courtyard stands solemnly behing the chained and padlocked gates.

By his decree, Archbishop Chaput and his Pastoral Commission did not meet their responsibility for the spiritual welfare of St. Joachim’s people and effectively closed what had been a vibrant (and financially stable) Catholic community.

St. Joachim’s neighbor, Mater Dolorosa parish has been closed as well, leaving the historic neighborhood of Frankford without a Catholic presence for the first time since 1845. Many other parishes have also been closed or merged. Some of these actions may have been justified, but the process by which the Commission and the Archbishop reached their conclusions was flawed and both secretive and capricious.

Our group, Keep the Faith in Frankford, has appealed the decree, first to the Archbishop, then to the Vatican Supreme Court where the merits of our case will be examined for the first time.

It would not be good for Pope Francis to find an Archdiocese that is abandoning its poorest neighborhoods. Families, neighborhoods, our nation and our world would benefit from a truly, holy, compassionate Catholic Church. Let’s start by getting St. Joachim out of the shadows.

Jack Hohenstein, September 10, 2014