I keep talking about my particular parish, but I guess that is a major way that I personally connect with opportunities to serve others. I don't take advantage of the opportunities it provides nearly enough. One thing my parish does is give annually to the Latvian Catholic mission. We have a special connection to that country. One of our former pastors was from Latvia. He and his family escaped when he was a little boy because the Soviet Union was about to deport his family to Siberia. They fled and eventually wound up in the United States. Anton Justs became a priest in Richmond Virginia. At that time there was no Arlington Diocese, everyone was under the auspices of the Richmond Diocese. When the Arlington Diocese formed, he became a priest of that diocese. He served at several parishes in the Northern VA area, and he was pastor at St. Mark. When the Soviet Union crumbled and Latvia was opened to allowing freedom of religion again, Father Justs was sent by John Paul II to go and start a seminary there so they could train priests. JPII then elevated Father Justs to Bishop. I think he was bishop of Latvia from 1995 to 2011. He just retired last year. Every year he comes back to St. Mark to visit and to ask for contributions to help his seminary, his orphanage and his Old Folks home. He is a wonderful, humorous, humble and sweet man. He's very popular around these parts! And I suppose in Latvia too.
The funny thing is my husband is Latvian, though Jewish, not Catholic. His family on his mother's side comes from Riga.
I noticed at the Aid to the Church in Need that there is a project dedicated to the building a new Church in an area of Latvia. These people suffered so under the harsh, communist regime of the Soviet Union. The Catholic church is really burgeoning again. There is hope!
Here's an article about Bishop Justs.
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