“SS. Peter and Paul Parish has been a tremendous partner, helping Project H.O.M.E. strengthen and expand its work with homeless and low-income adults and children for years,” said Mercy Sister Mary Scullion, executive director and co-founder of Project H.O.M.E.
“Msgr. Foley’s leadership and compassion has made a huge difference,” she added.
Msgr. Foley admits that it was with some reluctance that he started the poor box nearly two decades ago when he was a parochial vicar at SS. Peter and Paul. A member of the parish pastoral council at the time had repeatedly asked if the parish could get one. Thanks to the councilman’s urging, the parish eventually installed two poor boxes.
In those early days, the poor box ministry netted $25 to $30 each week. With the permission of the pastor and pastoral council, Msgr. Foley began to vigorously promote the poor box from the pulpit. His goal was to give the poor box money to a different organization every two months.
Next, a committee was formed to further promote the cause. Eventually, representatives from the receiving organizations were placed on a schedule to speak about the cause to the parishioners after Masses or other special gatherings at the church.
Using that model, the parish’s poor box ministry quickly began netting more than $1,500 every two months.
Msgr. Foley, who became pastor in 1993, points out that the poor box has not negatively affected his parish’s regular collections. In fact, those collections have generally increased.
Good marketing, combined with personal testimonials about the positive impact the money has made on an individual and the organization the individual is representing, is what propel the poor box’s success, the pastor said.
“They tug not only at the purse strings, but at the heart strings,” Msgr. Foley added of the bond that is forged between the recipients and the donors. “Sometimes, you don’t have a dry eye in the church.”
For more information, visit the Web site www.sspeterandpaulrc.org.
Printed with permission from Catholic Standard and Times, newspaper for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.