Faith Works
February 13, 2009 by Sarah
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
— James 2:14-17
Since arriving in Concordia, Kan., in 1883, the Sisters of St. Joseph have demonstrated their faith through works in cities and towns large and small, in hospitals and schools, in food banks and refugee centers, as teachers and healers and counselors in an unimagineably large array of settings. And as the sisters celebrate their 125th anniversary, their works continue, through the quiet prayer of sisters at the Motherhouse and in missions radiating out from Concordia to as far as Brazil.
Click on the links below for some of those works:
• Prayer Requests
• Maxim for the Week
• Sister Survivors of European Communism
• “Faces of Faith”
• Peace & Justice
• Center for Enriched Communication, Grand Junction, Colo.
Messages Home: Feb. 11, 2009
February 11, 2009 by Sarah
From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is working for a month at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.
Yesterday–my Tues., 2/10–was a day for introducing myself to the spouses of the Wounded Soldiers:physical and emotional damaged soldiers. There is one battalion just for the wounded soldiers in Vilseck. The intent is to re-train, re-assign or transition to release from the Army. A new department for these folks has just been started for the brain injured. Spouses are tending to the household concerns at times with the soldier at home because of the loss of memory and varying levels of impairment. On and on…
I also stopped into another school to offer services for the teachers, parents and students. It is a skiddish kind of happening for any of the above to reach out for assistance because of fear of repercussions w. military status of the soldier. That is the benefit of how me as a subcontractor comes in. We do no documentation; our contact is short-term and action directed. We do have to route a person for assistance if there is suicidal ideation, threat to self and/or other.
It is not uncommon for this generation of soldier/spouse to come into the army already having been in the mental health/legal system…so the level of trust is rather low.
We have a lovely layer of snow these couple of days. The wind last eve. made itself known in sound as well.
Blessings to each.
Loretta Jasper
Messages Home: Feb. 7, 2009
February 7, 2009 by Sarah
From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is working for a month at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.
My partner arrived from New York State Fri. afternoon. His primary site will be the Graf installation.
Prior to his arrival, I wanted to make sure I am just a teensy familiar to Bob’s side of the rotation (Graf post) so spent Fri. a.m. traipsing through various buildings, introducing our program/myself to various officers and program heads. The receptivity is stellar and the needs are many. I am not concerned that we will be lacking for “moving us along a little more” (a term we learned, those of us who were in New Orleans with re-building for the week over a year ago) during this rotation.
Getting onto the Graf post was a bit of a challenge for me, given the roadway system beyond the checkpoint. An officer informed me that I was off post and not far from the artillery range. OOOPS! Folks are wonderful and warm in providing (re)direct. Many persons: military, civil service, civilians are consistently rotating in/out of both posts on a regular basis.
The soon to retire chaplain offered to show me persons to meet among the batallions at Graf. The military clerk in the one section made sure we met as many folks as possible to connect and make our program known.
Sat., 2/7, while on an excursion to Amburg, the clerk was in one of the stores w. his spouse and 6-month old. He was only too eager to introduce me. An indication of friendliness.
Also in Amburg, our little cluster of three on the excursion sat beside a German couple who knows someone in Joplin, MO., who served in Vilseck a couple of years ago. The spouse was a civilian working on base at the time with the military spouse.
The world is very small, with many ways to connect.
Today, I am on my way to the chapel service on base; then to orient my partner to his base via an initial drive through.
It is cloudy,and balmy…a bit cooler than is the Midwest at this moment.
Continuing blessings…appreciating our mutual zeal across the ocean.
Loretta Jasper
Messages Home: Feb. 5, 2009
February 5, 2009 by Sarah
From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is working for a month at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.
Voila! I finally have access to the post without my POC (Point of Contact) signing me in (a.m.) and out (p.m.). We were able to solve the mystery a whole 24 hours earlier than anticipated, but four days later than most. The actual event of getting my temporary Installation Pass this afternoon was a four-day, ten-minute walk to/from my office to the correct building and then the ten minute process: photo, finger print and a couple of signatures.
Many of the buildings which involve me at this point at the Vilseck post are close together. The brisk, wintery air is a great perker as I walk from place to place. Nice! Also gives me a flavor of the folks who are sharing the sidewalks with me. Friendly and open with the greetings as we pass.
What was the scramble all about? It began in Dec/January when my predecessors and POC (new to this base at this time) were tending to Installation passes at a time when folks recently returned to this base from Iraq went on leave. Since many of the employees on base are spouses, temporary staff filled in during Dec./Jan., and entangled the process. The regular person was on site today. Yippee!!!!!!!!!! Mystery solved!
As a result, come tomorrow I now have access to Graf, the companion base 20 minutes from Vilseck. Since my partner in service provision is arriving tomorrow afternoon, I believe it best to have some sense of the layout of Graf, since I get to show him around the posts and the notebooks which are passed on from consultant to consultant. Oh well.
My housemates, a group which compares in ages to my older nephews/nieces, are a delight to be a part of in the eve….a wonderful normalizer to start and finish the day.
Loretta Jasper
Messages Home: Feb. 4, 2009
February 4, 2009 by Sarah
From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is spending a month working at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.
It is truly amazing to see the vast number of contracted service providers on the base: civil service and civilian. The gamut includes behavioral health, building construction, repair of radio and vehicles returned from combat; aka,down range, since it is less expensive to transport them to Germany, since the parts, and such are on hand.
I am staying in Hotel Villa, which is a 13-room, three story home-like setting, which has full size family-style breakfast prepared; foods available to pack and hand-carry a noon lunch; and a family style eve. meal served at such time the guests in the house return from work. Angelika, the owner, makes it a point to provide a home away from home, since some of her guests return multiple times for several months at a time. These oftimes are married folks with spouses and pre-adult children in the States. Currently, one of the guests (John) and myself are the only persons working with the behavioral health componant. John lives in San Diego. Of the remaining guests, there is one other woman and the rest are males: vehicular repair, radio repair, electronic update–skill sets which are precise. This current group comes from Alabama, Washington State and Texas.
I was made aware this a.m. that Vilseck where I am assigned is increasing in size by the days and months as troops return, re-integrate and return to the USA, or are redeployed. Needs for staffing, housing and various services re.: integration are keeping folks on their toes. Months 4-6 months of return from Iraq/Afghanistan seem to be post-honeymoon re.: marital relationships, individual tending to the traumas of loss, separation, role shifts, etc. are a concern for staff. This a.m. one of my resources used the term de-laminate: unable to shield oneself from the traumas…emotionally break down.
Today I tended to many initial contacts with existing services within Vilseck and Graf (Grafenhofer): chaplains, school principals in post based schools, director of the addictions program, etc., etc. Since our work involves rotational staff, I have taken my leads from my predecessor who returned to Glendale, CA. yesterday, in anticipation of my partner in service provision arriving on the weekend. As we stated while working with Katrina issues in New Orleans: our job is to move needs “along to” solution vs. closure. The intent is to provide as much collaboration and seamlessness as possible.
Once again, each of you is in my pocket. I am not alone.
Loretta Jasper
Messages Home: Feb. 2, 2009
February 2, 2009 by Sarah
From Loretta Jasper, CSJ, who is spending a month working at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany. To learn more about her mission, click HERE.
Sunday, 2/1 was a day spent at Dachau and in Munich–two hours’ drive south of Vilseck.
Dachau, without a doubt, is more than an event of standing on holy ground. The museum comprised of halls and halls of picture/story boards depicting the story of torture, annihilation and sheer human endurance captured my attention and held my spirit of wanting to know as much as possible about the human story of those dreadful years of genocide.
The day itself was piercing cold, one which caught my attention of how it must have been for the hungry, weak, ill, thinly clothed (or naked) must have even begun to endure just the standing in the yard twice a day for hours unable to twitch without being beaten. I who had three layers, able to move about, and stand and read the history was finding the cold a challenge.
It is my interest to make a pilgramage to several of the concentration camps within a car’s drive or train ride on weekends while I am here.
Munich is a place destroyed for the most part by the WWII bombings, with buildings replaced by replicas of the original. We lunched at the Houferhaus–famous beer hall–which was also one of the sites of entertainment for Hitler. The stories one place can tell.
Trekking the streets as we did in Munich, we moved in/out of several churches destroyed and replicated in the rebuilding.
Monday, 2/2 began my first day on Rose Barracks Army post in Vilseck. My colleague at the partner post twenty minutes away oriented me to the post/people and ways to continue relationships the prior team has begun. Connie returns to San Diego tomorrow as a result of completing her 45 day assignment at Graf Army post. She was splendid and most thorough in passing the baton to me for both posts until her replacement arrives on Fri..
Vilseck is a post for persons who are in between deployments to/from Iraq/Afghanistan.
I am most aware that each of you is in my pocket as I continue to be about the Mission.
Loretta Jasper
