LifeFunders for Month: November 2016

Healthcare for a Worker

My name is Michael, I’m a licensed acupuncturist and a devout Catholic, and I need your help.  All I seek to do with my life is to serve God and His people – but I am prevented from working by a number of health problems – all a result of my being HIV+ for the last 10 years.  The one which interferes most with my functioning is a neuromuscular condition of alternating weakness and extreme tension.  Muscles are do not fire properly to stay in their proper place and often give out – and, then, to compensate, they will lock up in spasm.  This further complicates things by preventing normal gastrointestinal movement.   The muscles of the back, hips, and buttocks are needed to fire properly to allow normal bowel movements, and this does not happen for me.  I feel fullness, immense pressure, cramping, and pain – but not release as it normally should happen.  Sometimes all this gets to be so intense, my heart starts racing, I feel weak,, I feel  crazy, and I give in to sobbing.  It’s embarrassing but true.  I have learned to tense certain muscles and relax others to facilitate eventually having a normal movement, but it takes tremendous concentration, time, and work.  This happens several times a day, every day of my life.  MD’s – of which I have seen several – have offered no explanations and no solutions.  I firmly believe that holistic healing modalities can help me to regain function in my nerves and muscles, but this will be a very long road…  For now, I need relief, so that I can get about my life and practice healthcare.  I need colostomy bag surgery; a tube would be attached to my colon through the skin to allow emptying into disposable plastic bags, making life a little easier.  Doctors here in the U.S. are denying me the surgery, as I am not the typical candidate with colon cancer or ulcerative colitis.  An excellent, state-of-the-art  hospital popular with Americans in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico will gladly perform the surgery, but it will cost $6,850.  I wish to raise funds for this, as well as for miscellaneous travel expenses for the surgery.  

As I mentioned above, I believe the purpose of my life, which I identified after my soul-shattering diagnosis 10 years ago, is to be of service.  However God can make me a channel of His healing grace for others, whatever He wishes to do with me for His Glory – I wish to give myself to it.  Every time a patient in the past has thanked me for some relief from pain and suffering, I silently attributed it to the Holy Spirit, of which I am a mere instrument.  Not only do I intende to continue practicing my form of medicine, but I also wish (if it is God’s will) to take it into missionary work for  underserved populations here in the U.S. – hopefully with the Glenmary missioners in Appalachia.  Failing this, I would found a community accupuncture clinic to at least provide healthcare at an accessible cost.  Eventually, I would like to become a Catholic deacon to further minister more fully to the needs of the faithful, bringing the Word to those who need to hear it.  However, in my present state, I am limited.  I place myself in the hands of others for help.  I pray that God will work through your hands, so that He can continue to work through mine.
Thank you, and God bless you.

Dominican School of Angeles City

Three Adrian Dominican
Sisters are currently serving at the Dominican School of Angeles City. The
school is located in Mining, a rural barangay
(neighborhood) of Angeles City within the Clark Freeport Zone.

 

The Sisters opened the
doors of the Dominican School in 2011 in a one-story building they constructed
on two hectares of land bequeathed by a generous benefactor. The school started
with three kindergarten students and quickly expanded to its current enrollment
of 238 students in grades kindergarten through tenth grade.  During the past six years, two additional floors
were constructed to accommodate the school’s growth, providing 18 rooms
altogether – 13 classrooms and a laboratory, administrative offices and a faculty
room, and two rooms that serve as the Sisters’ convent and small chapel.

 

The mission of the Dominican
School is to provide a Catholic education to economically impoverished children
who cannot afford to go to the Catholic schools in Angeles City and are vulnerable
to exploitation and human trafficking due to their economic conditions.

 

The school aims not
only to provide the children with an excellent faith-filled education, but also
to inculcate in them the social justice values of the Catholic Church so that
they will grow up to be critical thinkers, understanding the historic impact of
colonialism on their city and country, and become bearers of a faith tradition
that, as Pope Francis reminds us, upholds the dignity of every person,
recognizes our integral connectedness to the whole Earth community, and seeks
the common good for all God’s people.

 

The school further
aims to provide its high school students with vocational training courses in
areas like eco-farming, care-giving to the young and elderly, and computer
technology, so that they are immediately equipped as micro-entrepreneurs to
enter the workforce, addressing the serious unemployment problems in the
Philippines. It would be the only private school of its kind to offer such
vocational training along with a traditional academic curriculum.

 

And the school aims to
build an ecologically sustainable and resilient local community of residents who
are no longer susceptible to the greed and exploitation of others but creators
of their own future, grounded in their own cultural and family values and
Catholic faith tradition. 

Savio Boy Choir Fatima Pilgrimage

I am a member of The Savio Boy Choir; the
Philadelphia region’s premier Catholic Boy Choir. We sing throughout the
Archdiocese at Vigil masses, our Annual Christmas and Palm Sunday concerts, and special
performances. In
2015, Savio Boy Choir had the privilege of traveling to Avila, Spain
for the 500th anniversary celebration of St. Teresa, where we sang for
numerous Holy Week masses and celebrations. It was an amazing experience
and a trip of a lifetime that I will remember forever! This year the
choir has been
asked to share our beautiful voices in Fatima, Portugal, this June, for the 100th
anniversary of The Apparitions of our Blessed Virgin Mary. 

I
am one of approximately 35 boys that would like to make this trip and
your
support can make this life changing, faith-filled experience happen for
me. It would be another once in a lifetime trip that I’ll treasure always
and I’m really hoping to be able to go!

In
gratitude for your generosity, I will say a rosary for your intentions
and extra prayer for you while in Fatima. Thank you so much for your
support.