2026 South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal

By supporting the 2026 South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal, you are supporting many programs and ministries of the Diocese of Camden and Saints Peter & Paul Parish. These ministries serve the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the hungry and challenged. When you support the South Jersey Catholic Ministries Appeal, you offer comfort to those in your parish, your community, and throughout the entire Diocese.

This year’s theme, “Missionaries of Mercy,” supports the social and spiritual needs of our 62 parishes and 29 schools, with social services, hospital chaplaincy, youth & teen campus ministries, Catholic education, pastoral care initiatives, vocations, and faith formation programs. 

Together we make a stronger community with faith, compassion, and mercy.

Quick, Easy and Secure Online Giving – Click on the link below to make a one-time gift or set up monthly installments, via credit, debit, or checking/savings transaction and to view video.

Reflection for The Third Sunday of Lent
Cycle A

 About 15 years ago, news organizations from all around the world carried a story about a simple mother who  became an   international hero. With a tornado bearing down on her Indiana home she huddled in the basement with her 2 children. As her home   began to fall around them, she wrapped her children in a blanket and laid her own body over them as a shield from the falling   debris.  She took the hit of bricks, rocks, lumber and large beams to protect them. In the end, she lost part of both legs but saved her   children who were both unharmed.

 When the tornado came, she did not run through the house looking to save her jewelry, or her money. She did not look to protect her   work, or her car. This is a story about great courage, but it is also a story about a person who emptied herself from everything that

 the world looks at as valuable to protect what is truly most valuable.

 This is the message that we have been hearing throughout lent. Lent is about change. It is about emptying ourselves so that we can   be more like our heavenly Father created us to be. It’s a time for us to evaluate our goals, hopes, dreams, beliefs, behaviors, and   experiences; everything that has contributed to the person who we have become and then ask ourselves. “Am I valuing the wrong   things? Is this the person I want to be in the future?” And that is the same message we hear in today’s Gospel about Jesus’   encounter   with the woman at the well.

 Jesus’ simple request for water starts a very honest dialogue. He is not afraid to speak to her even though popular norms warn   against it. And in that conversation, He provides an opportunity for her spiritual thirst to be quenched. Pope Francis wrote that,   “Jesus’   thirst was not so much for
water, but for the encounter with a parched soul. Jesus needed to encounter the Samaritan woman in order to open her heart: he   asks for a drink so as to bring to light her own thirst. The woman is moved by this encounter: she asks Jesus several profound   questions that we all carry within but
 often ignore.”

 Lent is the best time to look within ourselves, to understand our truest spiritual needs, and to ask the Lord’s help. Take this

 opportunity  during Lent to look deep within your heart and ask Jesus the profound questions. What am I lacking that only God can   provide for me? What are my
demons? What is it that I am thirsting for? 

 May the example of the Samaritan woman encourage us to pray, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty.” Give me the   drink that will quench my thirst forever!

 God bless you.

 Deacon Anthony Cioe