Works of Mercy

One of the spiritual works of mercy is to pray for both the living and the dead. The month of November is especially set aside for prayers for the dead in the Catholic tradition, but that is not all we can do. There are many nice things to do, like reciting the prayer of St. Gertrude, which was given with the promise that every time it is recited, 1000 souls are released from Purgatory:

Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, Those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

Another thing to do is have masses said. Friends of the Suffering Souls is an organizatin that specializes in having masses said for the souls in purgatory.

Friends of the Suffering Souls
An organization formed to assist the souls in Purgatory by arranging for Masses to be offered each and every day of the year for their benefit.
The Friends of the Suffering Souls is an organization that assists the souls in Purgatory by arranging for Masses to be offered each and every day of the year for ALL THE SOULS IN PURGATORY and especially for deceased members.

There is ONLY ONE OBLIGATION incurred by becoming a Friend of the Suffering Souls. It is to be responsible for one Mass each year to be offered for the ALL of the souls in Purgatory on behalf of the organization.

http://web.1earth.net/~foss/index.html

Covenant House

Covenant House is the largest privately-funded childcare agency in the United States providing shelter and service to homeless and runaway youth.

Programs

Crisis Care - The cornerstone of the Covenant House program: any youth under 21 can receive immediate help, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Outreach - Every night, their counselors drive vans through the city streets searching for young people in need, providing warm clothing, food, counseling, and support.

NINELINE Hotline - Every year, over 90,000 kids and parents in crisis across the U.S. and Canada call the Covenant House Nineline (1-800-999-9999), a national, toll-free crisis hotline which operates 24 hours a day. With a database of over 26,000 shelters and organizations, counselors can provide immediate crisis counseling and refer callers to help in their area.


http://www.covenanthouse.org

Getting confused about what is and is not the Church's position about social teaching? Confused when the political rhetoric says one thing, but your Christian sensibility says something else? This site is a very handy run-down of Church teachings on social issues:

The Busy Christian's Guide to Catholic Social Teaching

Summaries, with links to some of the Church documents, starting with Pope Leo XIII and moving to the present.

Good place to get started learning.

http://www.uscatholic.org/cstline/tline.html

The Hunger Site

HOW IT WORKS

when you click the "Give Free Food" button (once a day per person) at http://www.thehungersite.com/home, this simple action gives more than a cup of fortified food to a hungry person.

It costs you nothing. Funding is paid by site sponsors and benefits two leading, nonprofit hunger relief organizations: Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest.

The number of people clicking determines the amount of food that goes to the hungry, so please forward the message along.

WHY CLICK?

There is enough food in the world for every man, woman and child. Yet an estimated one billion of the world's people live in poverty and face chronic hunger. 24,000 die daily. 75% of them are children under age five.

Clicking costs nothing but a few seconds of your time, and gives help and hope to a person in desperate need.

It also contains other ways to donate.

Web Link
http://www.thehungersite.com/home