Volunteers for our parishes offer love and caring support to the residents of the Alois Center every Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. when religious services are held.  Those services may consist of the Rosary, a Communion Service or Mass.  If you would like to be a part of this wonderful ministry, please call the regional office.

This service ministry is available through the Catholic Social Services of Cincinnati for persons in the Archdiocese who are caring for aged or disabled relatives or friends.  The ministry offers psychological support as well as connections to various helpful resources available in the Cincinnati area.  This group currently meets at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Activity Center on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.  There are no meetings in November or December due to the holidays.  For additional information, please contact the OLR Parish Office at (513) 825-8626.

This ministry provides meals and overnight lodging at the OLR parish facilities, for a one week period, for up to five homeless families who are our guests for the week.  We provide this hospitality approximately every eight weeks in association with the Interfaith Hospitality Network of churches.  Many volunteers from our parishes interact with our guests by preparing or serving the evening meals, acting as hosts for the evening hours or as overnight hosts.  Our parishioners help with set-up, supply logistics and laundry.  This ministry provides an opportunity for each us to reach out to others and provide the gift of fellowship and a chance to share your faith experience.  For more information, please call the OLR Parish Office at (513) 825-8626.  You may also wish to visit the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) at www.ihncincinnati.org

The mission of the Prayer Shawl Ministry is to prayerfully remember the sick and infirmed while knitting or crocheting prayer shawls or lap covers to be presented to the sick and infirmed who need the Lord's healing touch.

Meetings for St. James of the Valley are held on the last Thursday of each month. Prayer Shawls and lap covers are distributed before and after Mass the following weekend after the meeting. Please contact the regional office to be put in touch with a coordinator.

Meetings for OLR are held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Please contact the regional office to be put in touch with a coordinator.

The Sister Community project links parishioners in the Winton Wyoming Pastoral Region with the Catholic Community of Jardines de Colon in El Salvador, Central America.

Our Mission Statement
As diverse Catholic communities we strive for mutual solidarity.  Our relationship enriches and challenges us spiritually, culturally, and materially to more completely realize the Kingdom of God.

For more information contact the WWPR regional office to be put in touch with a Sister Community board member.

Donate to the Sister Community

Our Purpose is to:

• Support each other spiritually and to learn from each other’s different spiritual and cultural practices
• Broaden our perspective of the world, the universal Church, and the Body of Christ by developing a personal connection to those outside our community.
• Carry out Archdiocese’s "In One Body" Program to end racism.

• Scholarship program started in 1999 to provide for 3 children of the murdered lay leader Jesus Cantarero – has grown to have offered over 600 scholarships: elementary through college students with 31 students on scholarship this year.  Sponsoring families here correspond with scholarship recipients.

• A community library has been created and is being staffed through financial assistance from the project.  New library building started in 2009.

• A Community Center - Land was purchased and construction of a community center begun with project funds.

• Significant financial aid, in the area of $20,000 has been provided for hurricane (1998) and earthquake relief (2001) and for support of their chapel.

• An emergency medical loan fund of $2,000 was established in 2002 to help those in Jardines avoid losing their homes to loan sharks.

• A St. James parishioner become a lay missioner to El Salvador for a year.

• The Annual Campaign is run in the two Cincinnati area parishes to raise funds to cover the budget. On average 85% of funds go directly to El Salvador.

• Most years include a visit to Jardines de Colón involving Sister Community board members, WWPR clergy and parishioners.

• Two men from Jardines visited Cincinnati in 2003 and spoke at parish Masses and events.

• Locally, we have been meeting regularly since inception of this board to reflect on the Bible and administer the project and grow in mutual understanding.

• Many parishioners have literally “crossed the tracks” to visit each other’s local parish and attend events together: Men’s conference, African American Revival, Talks, Parish dances, festivals and other events, and workshops on related topics. Pastor and choir exchange between local parishes beginning in 2002.  Joint music events held in 1999 and 2004, the latter to commemorate MLK, Jr. holiday.  Joint racial healing service held in 2001 at St. Martin de Porres.  Joint visit to National Underground Freedom Center in 2004. Hosting of production on Mark Twain’s views on racism in 2009.

 
“Catholic social teaching more than anything else insists that we are one family; it calls us to overcome barriers of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, economic status, and nationality.  We are all one in Christ Jesus (cf. Gal 3:28)- beyond our differences and boundaries.”  Communities of Salt & Light US Catholic Bishops.

This society is affiliated with the national St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Its members extend Christ’s love and concern for those in need of food, clothing or emergency assistance.  Twice a year the Society sponsors Bundle Sunday collecting reusable toys, clothes and household articles that are then sent to St. Vincent de Paul stores around the city for the benefit of those in need.  For more information, please call the OLR Parish Office at (513) 825-8626 or St. James Parish Office at (513) 948-1218 or St. Matthias Parish Office at (513) 851-1930.