Have you ever noticed how popular the word “casa” is among Catholic people who are striving to lessen the pain that they find around them in our battered society? Casa Esperanza, Casa Marienalla, Casa this and Casa that. I think that it might be that the word sounds so peaceful and welcoming and these special programs need to generate that image as they reach out to people in trouble.

One of my favorite casas is Casa Esperanza de los Ninos in Houston and it is in the process of celebrating 30 years of extraordinarily effective work – awesome work, in fact! Thirty years ago, back in 1982, Kathy Foster, a young woman working in a halfway house for emotionally disturbed mothers and their children, was painfully aware that more and more children were finding themselves completely abandoned. Maybe there was only one parent and death entered the scene. Maybe it was the local police or the Immigration Naturalization Service that would separate a single parent from a child. Kathy saw the problem and decided to do something about it. Gathering a few dedicated friends with limited resources, she secured the use of one four-bedroom house and opened the doors of Casa Esperanza de los Ninos. Then the miracle began to unfold.

Kathy opened a development center in 1985, an in-house medical clinic in 1986, admitted the first child with HIV/AIDS in 1987, made the first adoption in 1988, placed its 100th adoption in the year 2000 and in 2008 opened a new “Casa” neighborhood – seven large homes in one location. I cannot do justice to the extraordinary accomplishments that Kathy and her co-workers achieved. However, it is well to point out that the Casa was featured on the NBC Today Show last year and that Kathy was inducted in the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. If anyone ever deserved that honor, she did. Casa now operates ten separate homes and in each of them the children are cared for in a loving, secure family manner. A great number of lives have been changed because of one woman’s vision and generosity. Congratulations to Casa and thank you, Kathy.

Last year’s budget for Casa Esperanza de los Ninos is nearly $6 million!

Share on Facebook

Last week, I mentioned that St. Louise House is my favorite chartiy, but truly, ANY program around here that has been set up by generous people to lessen the pain and suffering in our society is on my list of favorites! Next comes Casa Marianella.

Casa Marianella began 25 years ago when a generous real estate man gave the Diocese a very plain three bedroom house in East Austin. The donor was well aware of the tremendous difficulties facing people who arrive in this country without a knowledge of the language, without friends or contacts and usually without necessary skills to make it. Thus, was born Casa Marianella. Over this quarter of a century they have helped thousands upon thousands of men and women from almost every corner of the globe, although most of their “guests” are from Mexico and Central America.

Subsequently, Casa Marianella was able to add a second house for men and then, very much like St. Louise House, they opened a third house for women and children on a beautiful little hill in East Austin. That hill had two other houses on it and since then these extraordinarily generous people have secured two other houses and these three are operated solely to protect immigrant women and their children. Although operating under the overall guidance of Casa Marianella, it functions under a separate name – Posada Esperanza.

The two directors are Jennifer Long and Patti McCabe. They can be reached at (512) 385-5571. Please consider donating something on their “wish list” as a special Christmas gift.

When you think of recent immigrants in Austin at this time of the year, you can’t help but think about Joseph, Mary and Jesus being immigrants on the road with limited resources and receiving a cold reception. Casa Marianella and Posada Esperanza provide marvelously warm, generous receptions to these Christ-like migrants as they are struggling to put their lives in order. We wish them a Merry Christmas. We need to do something to help them have one.

Share on Facebook

A few years back, I was invited to visit a house on a small hilltop in deep East Austin. Many Austinites would be surprised to know that there is a hilltop in that part of the city but there is one and it is a very important place.

Several years ago, Casa Marianelli, which has for 25 years been running a hostel for newly arrived male immigrants, expanded and opened a second house for women on the hill that I am talking about. Posada Esperanza was a place where women and children could come, get their feet on the ground, get settled and gradually be able to take care of themselves. The work was wonderful and soon a second house was added next door making it a “house on the hill.”

Next week, yet a third house will open. It will be called Casa Gloria. These three houses dominate the hill and it is really a beautiful sight. The three of them face each other and form a tiny neighborhood with extraordinarily generous volunteers taking care of women and children who are extremely vulnerable.

All of these houses are run by volunteers united by their faith and generosity. They operate without a strong umbrella organization and that they continue to do so year in and year out is a virtual miracle. May God bless them for it.

Each of these houses has a beautiful story behind it. It shows that God continues to work among us in mysterious ways. Casa Gloria was donated by one lady who is honoring her wonderful mother by naming the house after her. May God continue to bless the donor and may her mother be always remembered.

Share on Facebook

The other day I talked about giving Christmas gifts that reflect our concern for making this a better world. For about the last ten years I have seen a marked increase of people giving financial gifts to institutions, ministries, charities, etc. and having that recipient notify the friend who was being honored with the fact that a gift has been given in their name. It is easy, it does great work and you don’t have to buy wrapping paper. Today, I am going to list my favorite four and I will come back to each one of them over the next few days.

The first is St. Louise House, a program put together by a handful of parishioners of
St. Austin’s Parish to provide counseling, training and most of all shelter to homeless women with children. Did you get that? Homeless women WITH CHILDREN. Their address is 2026 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas 78705, (512) 302-0027.

My next favorite is Down Home Ranch, an extraordinary undertaking, founded and directed by Judy and Jerry Horton. The ranch is a wonderful accomplishment providing recreational opportunities for hundreds of young people burdened with Down Syndrome and it also provides housing for several dozen full-time. What an achievement. Their address is 20250 FM 619, Elgin, Texas 78621, (888) 926-2253.

Meals on Wheels – always one of my favorites. This program brings hot meals and the wonderful comfort of home visits to thousands in Central Texas and hundreds of thousands across the country. What would the recipients do without it? With hunger increasing in our midst, the need is greater than ever. Can you help today? Their address is 3227 East 5th Street, Austin, Texas 78702, (512) 476-6325

Next comes Casa Marianella, an extraordinary program developed by generous individuals. They maintain five houses, two for men and three for women and children, who are recent arrivals from foreign countries and not yet settled in. Their address is 821 Gunter Street, Austin, Texas 78702, (512) 385-5571.

These are difficult times and some people are really suffering. All of us should chip in together in an effort to lessen the pain. Congratulations to Jack Brown for Coats for Kids and to the police department for Blue Santa, the Austin American Statesman for spotlighting cases of special need. So, thanks be to God, it goes on and on. Each one of us must ask ourselves what are WE doing.

Our Christmas celebration would be happier if we share God’s gifts with others.

Share on Facebook

Have you ever been traveling overseas in a country where you did not speak the language and had your wallet lost or stolen?  For most of us, it would be a very unpleasant situation.  You don’t have money and you can’t communicate.  It is really quite frightening.

For most Americans, however, the situation can be corrected within a day or two.  We have friends, we have access to funds, renewed credit cards, etc., etc.  What about a person coming to the United States with no knowledge of English, no money and no connections?  That is the situation in which many immigrants find themselves.  Who is going to help them?

Well, thankfully, the United States of America is filled with generous people who remember that their grandparents or great-grandparents were once in that position.  They had to struggle and fight and save and pull themselves into stable situations where they could fall in love, marry, have children and pass on the wonderful gift of being able to live in the United States of America.

Happily, I am able to report in virtually every sizable city in the United States informal, nongovernmental facilities have been developed by generous, hard working people who understand the plight of the immigrant.  One such facility is located here and operates under the title of Casa Marianella.

Casa Marianella is a haven and a safe place for male immigrants in which to help these new Americans settle in, learn English, get jobs, become citizens and be productive.  Casa Marianella’s facilities are stark to say the least.  It is crowded, somewhat disorderly due to that crowding but it provides an atmosphere of peace and comradeship to its guests, all of whom are urged to get out on their own as quickly as possible.  The Casa has a wonderful staff of volunteers but the driving force in the delivery of its services is accomplished under the leadership of Jennifer Long.  She has been at the Casa for about as long as I have been in Austin.  She does a magnificent job and she and the Casa can always use help.

Jennifer and her co-workers can be reached at Casa Marianella, 821 Gunter Street, Austin, Texas 78702, (512) 385-5571, http://www.casamarianella.org/

Share on Facebook