The community life of the Augustinians centers on a charity that pushes us out into the world. The interdependence of our community life and our service to those in need has become abundantly clear to us over the past few months.
We are delighted to give you another video by Br. Dominic Smith, O.S.A., demonstrating the service of one of our Augustinian communities on the southwest side of Chicago:
St. Rita Parish has long made a practice of distributing food to parishioners and neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet. However, since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent shelter-in-place orders, this has become nearly a full-time job for the Augustinian staff. “Usually we would give out packages to around 40 families every other week,” says St. Rita Pastor, Fr. Homero Sanchez, O.S.A., “But once the pandemic hit we were suddenly serving 80 families every week. At this point [in mid-May], we are serving about 500 to 600 families per week.”
Learn more about what it means to be an Augustinian by checking out our other blog posts here