03/04/01
A moving experience
I’ve been waiting six months for the right time to tell you this
moving tale of buried treasure.
Six months ago, when The Catholic New World moved from its long-time
digs on the Near West Side to Catholic Charities St. Vincent Center,
721 N. LaSalle, the cleanup unearthed some interesting finds.
Among the huge amounts of just plain trash, outdated files, broken
this and unfixable that were some surprises, like that buried
treasure.
Tucked in the back of an old file drawer, under some useless files,
in an unlocked box were two old Rice Bowl containers.
I don’t mean someone’s years-old lunch. I mean the church’s Lenten
effort to assist those in the world who have less than you or
I do. Operation Rice Bowl puts an answer to the Gospel question,
“Who is my neighbor?”
Money raised in parishes and schools through Operation Rice Bowl
benefits Catholic Relief Services. Since 1975, when Operation
Rice Bowl began, U.S. Catholics have contributed more than $111
million to overseas aid and development projects, mostly in Third-World
nations.
It’s a good program, especially in Lent when we’re called to service,
sacrifice and sharing.
When I picked up those old Rice Bowl collection containers, I
knew I’d struck paydirt. Spilling out the contents on a nearby
desk, I found quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies and the stray
dollar bill. None was newer than six years.
That meant that sometime in the mid-‘90s, someone—a staff member
or perhaps a predecessor of mine as editor—collected cash for
this worthy cause and forgot to hand it in.
The money isn’t much—only $6.27—but it’s symbolic of the commitment
of a church to raising the quality of life in a world which desperately
needs it. It is, in a very real sense, how the church reflects
the Kingdom of God.
Needless to say, now that I’ve kept these containers on my desk
all these months, the money will be delivered to the Operation
Rice Bowl office to be added to what’s gathered this Lent.
Read the Rice Bowl story on Page 3a. There’s more: Don’t miss
the story on Page 7 about the Annual Catholic Appeal which helps
so many ministries in Chicago. It also reminds us “Who is our
neighbor.” Be generous to both; you are a reflection of the love
of God.
—Tom Sheridan,
Editor and General Manager
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