Cross Catholic Outreach

Our journey with CCO is quite amazing. Our parish relationship with CCO began in earnest in March 2019 when a parishioner (CCO donor) invited our pastor to attend a Houston reception where he met Fr. Fabian and many CCO senior staff. Because of that introduction, we began exploring opportunities to realize CCO’s vision “…to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ…” as that vision might apply to Sts. Simon and Jude. Our parish has always had a “missionary spirit”, having participated in several domestic and overseas missionary projects. When CCO launched the “Build Communities in Christ” project, we became very interested in supporting a community in Guatemala in the diocese of “Suchi”. On the way, our relationship with CCO continued to grow and evolve. When COVID happened, we continued to look for ways to connect. In the spring of 2021, we were really looking for a Lenten project to engage our families. At the same time, we were introduced to the Box of Joy program and decided to run an Easter version! We modified materials and did a “Happy Easter” campaign, filling over 500 boxes. (We did the program in the fall as well, and sent over 700 boxes for Christmas. To date, we have sent over 4,400 Boxes of Joy to CCO.) In addition, we had partnered with Feed My Starving Children for a food packing event just before COVID struck, and as it turns out, the food we packed was ultimately delivered by CCO to Guatemala! We wanted to restart the program, but FMSC was unable to accommodate, so we did a food packing event with CCO in June of 2021 and the rest is history. We have packed over 500,000 meals in the last four years for CCO. In November of 2021, we gathered with CCO here in Houston for an intimate session to discuss our involvement in the Guatemala “Suchi” project, and the team building continued. Shortly after that, with the help of CCO staff, we officially formed a SSJ Missionary Ministry, focused on Guatemala. In September of 2022, we hosted the CCO sponsored St. Joseph’s Knights of Columbus retreat at Sts. Simon and Jude, with Jim Cavnar and others present, with over 80 attendees. In August of 2023, we did our first visioning trip to Guatemala with CCO and will return this January for the second. During that trip, we strengthened our commitment to help Suchi and the parish we visited, under the guidance of CCO and its partners. We continue to support and partner with CCO because we believe in their mission, are strengthened by their organization, friendship, and prayers, and are pleased with their efficiency and open communications regarding our funded projects. Our goal is to bring the essence of the Guatemalan people to our parish via those who go on the visioning trips, so everyone can “feel” their needs, but also their joy and love. While some of our parishioners want to tackle physical labor and construction projects, we want to initially focus on the spiritual aspects of our relationship, bringing ourselves and the Church to those whom we serve in Guatemala. We hope, over time, to continue to grow our partnership with CCO to the extent possible. Who knows what’s next? Our parish continues to respond is spades. This Advent, we launched a fund raising effort for housing in Suchi, with the lofty goal (we thought) of five houses. To date, we have raised enough funds to build over 8 houses. We are already making plans for a more comprehensive mission trip in 2026, a food packing event this April with a goal of 170,000 meals, and a Box of Joy event in the fall with a goal of 1500 boxes. We are looking to schedule a planning session with CCO in early 2025 to see how far we might go!