March 25th, 2011: The Newman Center at New Mexico Highlands University Engaging Catholic Charities and the local Albuquerque Community

(This article was written for the People of God, the Archdiocesan Newspaper for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It will possibly be published in May.)

When one is an undergraduate in college, sometimes, the world one lives in is similar to living in a “bubble”. College students tend to focus on their school work, outside work to pay the bills, their social lives, and maybe their families and religion. Thinking about issues of social injustice in our world is something that is merely beyond their view. I know these are generalizations and there are always exceptions to these generalizations. However, for the students that this does characterize exposure to social injustices both locally and globally are essential to broadening their minds and hearts.

From Sunday, March 13th to Wednesday, March 16th, two students from Highlands University’s Newman Center in Las Vegas, New Mexico, their campus minister and staff advisor came to learn about and volunteer with Catholic Charities and other Catholic organizations around the city of Albuquerque. This was Highlands Newman Center’s first time engaging in a spring break trip. It was four full days filled with learning, praying, and engaging the Albuquerque community. One of the young women on the trip indicated that by Wednesday, “her eyes have now been opened”.

The four days were bookended with the students engaging in the Catholic community in Albuquerque. On Sunday, they volunteered at Immaculate Conception's meal for people who are homeless. Beatrice, from Catholic Charities’ housing center, then came out and spoke to the group about housing and homelessness in Albuquerque. This was followed by a guided reflection on the experience. Later that evening, after a young adult mass, they listened to two guest speakers’ talk about Jesuit Volunteer Corps, a national volunteer program for post-graduate students wanting to engage their desire in social justice. On Wednesday, they volunteered and observed projects such as feeding people who are homeless at the Good Shepherd Center and visiting both Catholic Worker homes in Albuquerque, Trinity House and Casa de las Communidades.

On Monday and Tuesday the group learned and spent the entire day at Catholic Charities. Monday they were at the Bridge Street location, Southwest Albuquerque, where they learned about Catholic Charities’ Centers for Immigration and Education. During the presentation from the Center for Education, children from the early childcare center came and sang a few songs to the group in English and Spanish. After the presentation the group planted flowers at Hibernian House, a housing unit for low-income seniors. This brightened the day for the seniors. Following the planting they went back to the bridge location where they cleaned around the entire building, picking up over six bags of trash and debris. On Tuesday the group was at the Marble Ave. location, Northeast Albuquerque, where they learned about Catholic Charities’ Centers for Refugees, Housing, and Community Involvement. After these presentations they worked with refugee youth on starting to paint a mural of a world map in the youth classroom.

Jesus’ calls us to take this scripture passage to heart in both thought and action: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25: 35-36). By the end of the trip the groups’ hearts were open to compassion towards the people and programs they encountered; this compassion has empowered them to look into issues of social injustices that are occurring in their own backyards in Las Vegas, NM. With the strength and vision of the Holy Spirit I hope that this group uses their experience with Catholic Charities and the Albuquerque Catholic community to engage their community so that peoples basic needs are met and that the dignity of all peoples is preserved.

March 22nd, 2011: Sofia's Arrival & Trusting God

Rosie & Sofia (36 weeks)

The last few weeks have been life changing. On Thursday, March 10th, I received a phone call from a doctor asking for me and my husband to go Lovelace Woman's Hospital for a follow up appointment (following up on an appointment I had on Tues. March 8th) as soon as possible. Because my fluid levels in the amniotic sac have been consistently in the normal-low range they wanted to do another follow up ultrasound. The day I received the phone call I was thrown for a loop. Just two days before my midwife had told me not to worry. She said the fluid was in the normal-low range but that we would just wait things out. I was in a total panic when I received the phone call. I felt a rush of anxiety and stress. I cried and I apologized to Sofia for not producing what she needed. What I do naturally in a time of distress is turn to God, I went to mass with my husband. We prayed. We asked God to watch over our little Sofia. After mass I felt somewhat relieved. At that moment I knew I needed to just trust God. I had done all that I could do. I watched what I ate, I have been drinking about 10-14 liters of water a day, I am walking every day...and the list goes on. The day after I received that jarring phone call from the doctor at Lovelace Woman's Hospital, my midwife called to reassure me that this was for mere monitoring purposes.

The following week I went in for my appointment at Lovelace Woman's Hospital. The water level was again in the normal-low range. The reason there is concern about the water level being so low is because towards the end of pregnancy the water level in the sac does lower due to her growing. The fluid level (AFI) is measured with ultrasounds. Attempting to not be naive, I have been doing some reading and I have come to learn there is some controversy as to if ultrasounds are the "best" way to check the fluids...but at this point...it's the only way to check the fluids. One of the other major arguments against this method of measuring the water fluids is that we have had about 5 different technicians look at the fluid levels on different machines. One technician read that we had a significantly higher fluid level than the other four. There is human error and variance, especially if there is more than one technician. Anyway, besides the fluid level being in the normal-low range, our little Sofia is measuring a little bit small (but not dangerously so). Again, the measurements are not 100% accurate. Ultrasounds are good technology but when our little Sofia is curled up in a ball, how truly accurate can they weigh her in utero? Anyway, due to the water level being low and her lower than average birth weight, the doctors have concluded that there could be a potential placenta issue. The placenta is the lifeline for Sofia from me. If Sofia stays in me and the water levels get too low then her lifeline will not work effectively and she may not receive the oxygen or food that she needs. That being said, to err on the safe side, Mike and I have decided to agree with the doctors and midwives and we will be induced on Wednesday, March 30th, week 37.

We also have had 2 non-stress tests done (monitoring her heart beat externally for 20 minutes) and she passed those with flying colors. Also when they look at her movements on the ultrasound she is moving a lot and she passes those exams with perfect scores. All of her organs look great. Sofia overall is doing fine. I just ask for your prayers as Mike and I make the final preparations for her arrival into this world. Please pray for a good labor and delivery and a healthy baby Sofia.

Yesterday I was driving on the freeway. In front of me was a huge pile of big white boxes on the ground taking up the whole lane I was driving in. It seemed as if a truck had accidently dropped them on the freeway, creating a hazard on the freeway. I didn't know what to do. There was a car behind me at the distance of about 5 car lengths away. There was a car to my left and my right. I could not swerve. I pushed the brake. I took my foot off of the brake. I pushed the brake again. I did this oscillation of the brake to signal to the car behind me that there was something in front of me. The car to my right finally passed me. I swerved to the right and hit the boxes with the front left side of my car. Nothing happened. I was safe. The car did not have a scratch on it when I got off of the freeway. God was watching over Sofia and myself. This is what I need to hold on to...God is watching over and protecting us through the bumps on the road. God will help Mike and I prepare to become the parents Sofia needs, even three weeks earlier than her anticipated due date. God will be with us when I am in labor. God will be with Sofia as she comes out into the world and as she grows and learns throughout the years. God loves us so much that God is continuously watching, loving, and caring for all of us.

March 4th, 2011: Lenten Calendar 2011

A few months ago, Mike and I, took a drive to Las Vegas, NM. I had an appointment with the campus minister at Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM for my job at Catholic Charities. I had decided to ask Mike to join me because at that point I knew I was already pregnant with baby Sofia, it was the first trimester, and there were times during that trimester where I was feeling nauseated. Anyway, during this trip there were two goals for me when meeting with the campus minister: 1) to listen to their, the college students and the local communities, needs, 2) to tell them what Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe already does. In the end I was eagerly surprised that there were many things that came from the brief one hour meeting.

In Albuquerque, from my experience of living in Albuquerque (five years), there are several social justice issues that are prominent: poor school system that translates into poorly educated people, immigrant rights, lack of housing for low income individuals which then leads to homelessness, and working with people who are homeless to get them the services they need to get them into a home. (Homelessness occurs because of a variety of different reasons; lack of affordable housing being one of them.) In Las Vegas, the needs, from the people I spoke to sounded similar yet different. According to the people I spoke with the city does a good job of providing people housing, so much so that, they rarely see someone who is homeless. Even though people are not "homeless" many people in Las Vegas don't have money for utilities and for food. When I came back to Albuquerque after that trip I did some research and found some local Las Vegas, NM, food pantries. I gave this resource to the campus minister to share with her college students so that they can distribute this information to those struggling to feed themselves and their families.

The campus minister was wanting to integrate social justice and Catholic Social Teaching with Lent and the students she works for and with. Together her and I came up with a Lenten journey that students and others can partake in that includes the pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As you can see from the image on the left hand corner of this blog, the idea was formulated in Las Vegas, NM to come up with a resource for people to use on their Lenten journeys to bring them closer to God. When I came back from Las Vegas, NM, I created a the Lenten Calendar resource that can be found on the Catholic Charities website: http://www.ccasfnm.org/ Besides fasting and praying, what the students and community members that are involved at the Newman Center in Las Vegas are going to do is use these calendars to collect cans of food for a local food bank (almsgiving). Each time the person uses the calendar they will fast and give a can of food to a box they have laid aside for the food bank. By the end of Lent each person participating on this Lenten journey will have gathered at least 13 cans to give to their local food bank, directly impacting their communities.

After the creation of this calendar the Executive Director of Catholic Charities, Jim, loved the resource so much he made sure they were inserted in all of our Lenten appeals. Also I have distributed over 600 copies to local parishes.

If you would like a copy of this Lenten Calendar please feel free to contact me and I can either mail you a copy of it and/or I can email you a copy (I still have about 1,400 copies sitting in my office). I hope that this resource can be used by many so that everyone has a fruitful Lenten season.