Council of Catholic Women
The Council of Catholic Women is the organization for all women at Saint Mark's whose goals are to develop spiritual growth and leadership potential. We achieve these goals by encouraging members to act on religious, civic, and education issues facing the parish and society. The women of Saint Mark's Council of Catholic Women seek to develop solutions, through prayer and the establishment of working relationships with civic groups, social agencies and ecumenical organizations.
Activities of the CCW
– Spring and Fall Rummage Sales
– Pie Booth at the Parish Festival
– Spring Fashion Show and Silent Auction
– Church Cleaning
– Sewing of baptismal gowns for Birthright
– Morning of Reflection
– Children's True Christmas Program
– Madonna Bridge Clubs
– Rosaries for First Communicants
– Scholarships for Saint Mark's students
– Refurbishing of the Community Room
– Restoration of the Stations of the Cross
CSA: Church–Supported–Agriculture
Church–Supported–Agriculture is the brainchild of Dale Hennen, former director of the Archdiocesan Rural Life Office. The basic idea behind "Church Supported Agriculture" is to educate urban churches about the very real and pressing issues faced by our rural neighbors, issues that very much have to do with how our food is grown, harvested, processed, marketed, sold, purchased and consumed. You might be surprised to learn that the Catholic Church in the United States has long been an advocate of vibrant, rural communities and the family farms that have historically been essential to the growth and preservation of such communities. In fact, the "National Catholic Rural Life Conference" is older than the National Conference of Catholic Bishops itself!
In addition to education, Church Supported Agriculture also seeks to break down the urban–rural walls that artificially separate consumers from farmers by providing opportunities for Twin Cities' consumers to purchase food and other household goods directly from Minnesota family farmers and other rural producers.
For the past ten years, Saint Mark's has been a "Church Supported Agriculture" site in two specific ways:
Whole Farm Co-operative represents 30 member families in Central Minnesota. They are committed to creating farms that nourish our families spiritually and economically, sustain the environment, and with providing eaters not only with safe wholesome food but with a clear sense of who and where their food came from.
Through Whole Farm Coop, Saint Mark's families (and many neighbors) order groceries and household items online. Deliveries are to the Carolyn Hall kitchen on the second Wednesday of each month.
There is no fee to join. There is no "joining" at all, in fact. (The "Coop" is for the farmers, not the consumers.) You can order as much or as little as you wish. Nor is there any obligation to order every month.
Ploughshare Farm CSA ("Community Supported Agriculture")
Gary and Jen Brever and their four sons own and operate an organic vegetable farm outside of Alexandria, MN. They sell "shares" of varying sizes and types to consumers in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Alexandria and Fargo. A graduate of St. John's University in Collegeville, Gary returned to Minnesota to be an organic vegetable farmer after a successful experience growing vegetables for a Catholic Worker community in Washington State.
During the growing season (June to September), Ploughshare Farm delivers more than two–dozen boxes of fresh produce weekly (Thursdays) to Saint Mark's Church, one of multiple "drop sites" in the Twin Cities.
Through Whole Farm Coop and Ploughshare Farms CSA, members of the Saint Mark's family have an opportunity to learn about the issues confronting our rural neighbors, issues that, because they have everything to do with the food we eat, also concern and affect us "city dwellers." Buying food from Whole Farm Coop and Ploughshare Farms also gives Saint Mark's families a chance to help support family farms and rural communities and eat great food!
The coordinator of Church Supported Agriculture at Saint Mark's is Paul Wojda. He can be reached at pauljwojda@gmail.com or by phone at 651-558-6062.
Justice and Peace Committee
Saint Mark's has always been strongly committed to the call to be people of justice. Scripture is ripe with the words and works of Christ to work on behalf of the poor and marginalized. The Justice and Peace Committee has been in existence for over thirty years. Our mission is to support all parish organizations as they are about both charity and the work of changing unjust systems.
We work closely with the Archdiocese Office for Social Justice and their programs, especially Sowers of Justice. This is an archdiocesan-wide project to work through grassroots efforts to effect change at the legislative level. We have committee members who work on Healthcare, Immigration, Housing, Environmental and Wage issues. We have had two ongoing JustFaith groups that spent intensive months looking at the current issues facing Catholics, the history of Catholic Social Teaching, and ways we can continue to work toward a more just society.
We work to promote parish-wide the ongoing programs of Project Home, Loaves and Fishes, and the Family Shelter. We are also studying and researching a possible Sister Parish commitment.
We meet monthly on the third Monday of the month. We have 10 to 20 members consistently attending these meetings. Jeanette Clements and JoAnn Mason are the current leaders of the committee. We are open to any and all community members who would like to be involved. New leadership and ideas are always welcome.
Loaves and Fishes
Saint Mark's sponsors three teams to feed the hungry at Loaves and Fishes II, located at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul. Although the parish pays for the food, each team is responsible for devising and preparing a nutritious meal for 300 guests. We provide this evening meal on the last Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October, and December.
