Dear St. Rita Families,

During my recent retreat (Feb 5-10), Our Lord invited me to spend some time reading Jim Towey’s recent biography of St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), To Love and Be Loved. I have always been moved by her willingness to leave everything behind and not only to serve the poorest of the poor, but to share their poverty as well. As you know, her witness has been long-lasting and impactful across the globe.

Since I arrived here at St. Rita, I have been aware of a nudge from Our Lord to be particularly concerned for the Arlandria-Chirilagua neighborhood, adjacent to the Church. This Church sits at the convergence of Mt. Ida, Del Ray, and Chirilagua, and is unique in the sense that our parishioners consist of residents of each of these neighborhoods. We come from wildly varying economic, social, and educational backgrounds, yet we are all fed at the same Altar, from (and with) the same Lord.

Thanks be to God that there are organizations in our area which are designed specifically to serve the poorer members of our community. Not only do we at St. Rita provide food, clothing, and rent assistance as we are able, but the Mother of Light Center also provides assistance with material items as well as a more robust support for individuals trying to make it in today’s society. You may also have heard of Casa Chiriliagua, a faith-based organization which provides educational and mentoring support for youth and families in the area. I asked Jon Paramore, the Development Director at Casa, to pen a few words for the St. Rita community about his experience working and living in Chirilagua. It is good that we get to know the different members of our community and learn how to live out our Catholic Faith in a complex environment, respecting the differences of culture and society without losing the fullness of our Faith.

My name is Jon Paramore. My wife and I work down the street from St. Rita’s at Casa Chirilagua, a faith-based community center and nonprofit that serves the Chirilagua neighborhood. We also live directly across from St. Rita’s in the Presidential Greens apartments and have the honor of calling the people of Chirilagua our neighbors.

Our neighbors in Chirilagua, many of whom are also your parishioners, are incredibly hard working and self-motivated. Many are business owners and skilled craftsmen. Our neighbors possess a deep self-sacrificial love for family as many mothers and fathers work tirelessly to provide a better future for their children.

But what I have been most moved by is that the community of Chirilagua possesses a beautiful and powerful faith. The Kingdom of God is moving and active in this neighborhood. Immigrants in Chirilagua do not pray the Lord’s prayer and say “Give us this day our daily bread” and mean that as a metaphor for leaning on God in the midst of the stresses of today’s modern office. They are actually relying on God daily for their food, and then they don’t go hungry. It is because of their faith that they are fed.

Speaking personally, my faith has been turned upside down by this community. I have seen the multiplication of food due to the prayers of Christ’s followers. I have seen and heard of miraculous healing. Things I thought were not possible, I see are quite possible in the Kingdom of Heaven. And this is all because I am blessed enough to live amongst the faithful: those who rely on Christ for everything, not just for the things that their wealth can’t cover.

God has blessed me with this neighborhood to show me how weak my faith is as someone who has always had much. He has invited me to trust in him as my neighbors do. Through dinners, birthday celebrations, quinceañeras, and the abundance of hospitality in this neighborhood, my neighbors have been gracious enough to share stories and testimonies of what the Lord has done in their lives. And I am always left dumbfounded. Faith that was only ever preached about in my faith communities growing up is actually being lived out here.

Last week, there was a terrible, tragic shooting that occurred in my apartment complex. We thank God that nobody was killed. Shootings like these are not a common occurrence in our neighborhood anymore, but violence is something the enemy uses often to threaten and induce fear in those who are faithful to him. And unfortunately, violence is not something that is necessarily foreign to Chirilagua families as well as many [who] made the migrant journey to flee violence in their home communities.

Some of you may be aware of this incident because you saw the police tape across the street when you were picking up your children from school. Christ is at work in these moments. And is probably at work in you. It is tempting to cast judgement on the apartment complex across the street and thank God that our neighborhoods don’t see such violence. We as humans are so inclined to fear that our first instinct might be to protect ourselves and our children and not notice as our hearts slowly harden. Or maybe we may feel noble when we pity our neighbors and feel sad for them at a distance.

I think Christ offers us something else altogether. Our Lord invites us to lean in and draw close to our neighbors at this time. Maybe this means attending the Spanish mass for the first time with your family, even though nobody in your family speaks Spanish, simply to be present with your neighbors. Our Heavenly Father’s heart breaks for Chirilagua after an incident like this. He is inviting your heart to break too. The only way for that to be possible is to lean in and pray. And remember, you are not merely praying for people across the street, you are praying for your neighbors and fellow parishioners.

Thanks,
Jon Paramore

I thank Jon and all of Casa for their work in Chirilagua, and likewise I thank Mother of Light and all who sincerely serve our neighbors here in Chirilagua. I close with a quote from Mother Teresa: “If we recognize [Jesus] under the appearance of bread…we will have no difficulty recognizing him in the disguise of the suffering poor.

In Christ,
Fr. Christensen