BALLANTYNE — The Diocese of Charlotte is rallying around victims of the Venezuelan earthquakes, embracing those locally who lost loved ones and raising money for those trying to rebuild lives in Venezuela.
On Sunday, St. Matthew Church hosted more than 50 Venezuelan friends and family of people who lost their lives and homes in the June 24 earthquakes, with dozens of parishioners greeting them and the entire church praying for them.
“Please know that we meet you and all the suffering in Venezuela on the altar of this Mass…,” Father Patrick Cahill, pastor, told the group in his homily. “In a special way, we pray over all the deceased there and all that were affected.”
St. Matthew added the names of two women who died in the collapse of a high-rise in Venezuela – Dulce Avila Peña and Gladys Avila – to their Prayers of the Faithful, as relatives held pictures of the women in the front pews.
Father Cahill reiterated his parish’s commitment to the people of Naiguatá, Venezuela, where St. Matthew supports a soup kitchen through its annual Monsignor McSweeny World Hunger Drive. The parish is immediately sending $27,000 so the soup kitchen run by San Francisco de Asis Church could continue to feed people.
Across the Diocese of Charlotte, parishioners have contributed $171,201 to date through a special collection for the earthquake victims at Masses July 18-19. St. Mark Church also paid tribute to the two deceased women, as one was the mother of St. Mark parishioner Dulce Peña.
From Venezuela, Padre Martin Vegas sent a 6-page letter on July 22, detailing the situation on the ground and the aid his parish has been able to provide, thanks to support from St. Matthew. Included were photos, a list of 46 streets where food and supplies had been delivered, and the number of families they’d served: 3,583.
The letter also spelled out how the Venezuelan parish is using funding to deliver food, hygiene products and medical care – aiding the sick and injured, homeless and jobless, while still delivering the sacraments.
“The main challenge facing Naiguatá lies not only in the visible structural damage to buildings or in the tragic material losses and direct loss of human life, but in the severe social and economic crisis that ensued immediately afterward,” Padre Martin wrote.
“The earthquake has completely paralyzed this economic engine…Hunger and the lack of basic supplies threatened to devastate our community far more than the earthquake itself.”
In closing, he wrote: “We reiterate our immense gratitude to the Diocese of Charlotte for becoming a living manifestation of Divine Providence. Your generosity not only satisfies physical hunger and relieves illness for thousands of Naiguatá residents, but also restores hope and dignity to a people who felt abandoned.”
— Lisa M. Geraci and Liz Chandler
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