Saint Charles Parish, Imperial Beach, San Diego, CA

Dear Friends of Saint Charles Caritas, Charity on the Border:

I hope you had a blessed weekend!

April 12, 2008 Saturday: 7 volunteers from Saint Charles Caritas went to visit the Adoratrices del Santisimo, contemplative nuns, who pray 24/7, all through out the year. Immediately when we arrived at the convent, we had a mass dedicated to the Caritas (for the volunteers and donors of this charity). The mass was presided by Fr. Carlos Castillo, Secretary of Bishop Romo of Tijuana, with 7 nuns and a few volunteers of the convent and us (7 from the Caritas). The mass was so wonderful and we felt peace in our hearts while the mass was going on. The nuns were the choir singers with piano and an instrumental player background. This was the 5th time that Fr. Carlos presided in English. After the mass, we toured the church that the nuns are building. The construction is not finished yet and it will take more efforts from the nuns to do fund raising and donations. We saw the 2 huge church bells and most of all the 9 foot wood carved statue of Mother Mary. The nuns had to asked permission from Rome for the name of the statue and the name is Our Lady of the Holy Sacrament. This statue is one of a kind donated from Northern Italy and needed a home. Our Lady of the Holy Sacrament statue is still in the box crate and very much protected by the nuns.

Bishop Romo knows that you are helping them and he extends his appreciation of thank you to each one of you. Thank you, mother in charge Sister Rossy & Sister Teresa for your hospitality (the lunch was very delicious) and most of all your prayers for the Saint Charles Caritas friends, donors and volunteers.

Thank you for a donor from North San Diego, the $150 that he donated was earmarked to the Adoratrices nuns, and we bought sugar & flour for the ingredients of their fund raising pastries to the build a church. We bought assorted fruits, vegetables, frozen meat and, etc., for the nuns. We also gave the nuns the Mexican coins and paper money that St. Charles Church and school had accumulated for the past months.

The nuns are asking if any one of you knows a place that can weld a cross made of stainless steel for the bell tower of the church. If you would like to help/donate please give me a call at: 619-428-0199, evening after 7:30pm is best to call me.

The volunteers last Saturday were: Jack Stroh, Margie Benzie, Mary Wilson, Joe & Barbara Miller and Elaine Rechs.

Next weekend is Saint Charles Caritas Day, April 19 & 20. The nuns and the volunteers will be at all exit doors. Please stop by and see them.

April 22, Tuesday at 6pm is the Costco buy of basic food for all 6 charities from TJ.

Our Caritas next visit to one of our charity is the Asilo de Ancianos, home for the elderly. We are going to prepare & serve lunch for them. The day is TBA.

Please stop by next weekend and see us. You can also google the charity, just type "Saint Charles Caritas" and it will go directly to the web site and click Saint Charles Caritas. Our events, history and pictures are on this web site page.

Sincerely yours,

Merlyn Baker
Saint Charles Caritas
990 Saturn Blvd
San Diego, CA 92154
tel# 619-428-0199
mbaker2020@aol.com
www.saintcharles.org