Christian Service Commission

The Christian Service Commission's mission is to promote Christian Service among the people of St. James, Cornelius & Cyprian and the surrounding community through various service opportunities:



Back-to-School Giving Tree

Food drive for the community Thanksgiving Dinner

Collecting and distributing personal necessities for End Violent Encounter (E.V.E.)

Sponsor the Anointing of the Sick Mass

Send birthday cards to seniors

Give A Kid A Coat project.

Anyone is welcome to attend our meetings which are held on the first Thursday of the month (except January, February, March, July, and August) at 3 p.m. or as needed. For more information you can contact the parish office or Chair Bonnie Gruzenda. 

Courtesy of the Diocese of Lansing:

PURPOSE
“Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility
for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire
ecclesial community at every level: from the local community to the particular Church
and to the Church universal in its entirety. As a community, the Church must practice
love. Love thus needs to be an ordered service to the community.” Deus Caritas Est 20
The mission of parish charitable and social justice activities is the work of the Catholic
Church, to share the love of God by performing the spiritual and corporal works of
mercy and by promoting the Social teachings of the Church.

The corporal works of mercy call us to give drink to the thirsty, feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, and to bury the
dead. The spiritual works of mercy call us to convert the sinner, instruct the ignorant,
counsel the doubtful, console the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive injuries,
and to pray for the living and the dead. CCC 2447

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has provided us with seven principles
of Catholic social teaching/doctrine to help us understand and carry out the Gospel
mandate to love our neighbor. Mt 22:36 These principles are ordered in a logical
sequence that reflects the synthesis of faith and reason. The preeminent and first
principle is the Life and Dignity of the Human Person. Once human life is fully
embraced, welcomed and protected it is possible to focus on the second principle:
Family, Community, and Participation. The family is the basic unit of society and
rightly called the domestic church. The third principle builds on the first two, Rights
and Responsibilities. Here we learn that in order for human dignity to be protected
everyone needs to assure individual rights are protected and that individual
responsibilities are fulfilled. Preferential Option for the Poor, the fourth principle,
recognizes that the spiritually and materially poor have a special place in God’s heart.
The fifth principle, The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers, builds upon the four
prior principles. It teaches that we are called to be co-creators with God and that
workers are to be treated with dignity. Solidarity, principle six, reminds us that we
are our brothers’ keepers. The seventh and final principle is Care of God’s Creation.
If we are living the first six principles it will be visible in our proper stewardship of
God’s gift of creation.

John Paul II said Catholic Charities “exist for only one reason: to proclaim the Gospel.”
He also stated that Catholic Charities “must help the faithful to think and act in full
accord with the Gospel, overcoming all separation between faith and life, but must
also offer a clear institutional testimony of the saving truth.” Adlimina visit of the bishops of
Portland, Seattle, and Anchorage - June 24, 2004