brandys-blog

One Step At a Time

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:53:04 +0100

Today, I spoke with the Assistant to the Bishop and emailed her the materials to review for the Bishop. She said what will most likely happen is that we will meet with the Vicor General first, and then he will present our case to the Bishop. She was very helpful and very sweet. I appreciated greatly her time.

I emailed materials to Catholic Charities, as I would like to partner with them so that the donations we receive are earmarked 90% for them and 10% for us. My goal is to drive people to work together - through organizations like Catholic Charities - to meet the needs of their communities.

Finally, after thinking deeply about this, I emailed the Oprah Winfrey show about our walk. Our message is not just for Catholics, or Christians, but for everyone to hear and if there is one thing I know for certain it is that she has the attention of millions. I also know that she talks a great deal about giving back, and perhaps can be persuaded to support this effort. I do have some reservations, but I will let the Lord decide the final outcome. After all, if there is one thing I do know it is that the truth is testable. If it is truly the Lord's will - good fruit will come of it though it will come with great effort and at a price. If it is not, no amount of effort will cause good fruit to come out of it.

We visited Randy's mother tonight. Her outings with us and with Betty (Randy's sister) are her only chances to get out of the nursing home. I'm so glad to be able to do this for her, and so very glad that Randy has become devoted to his mother. Randy was tired afterward, but we put the walking as a first priority. It gives us a chance to train and we use the time to say a decade of the rosary so that even in walking we are praying. If, after all is said and done, we do not obtain the permission to do the walk as we would like but we have prayed and gotten healthier ourselves this effort will be well worth it.

177 lbs...only 57 more to go!

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:08:50 +0100

So I weighed myself today. I have lost three pounds since my last weigh-in. Not a huge accomplishment, but it's almost 2% of my original weight. I have finished a rough draft of the talk. This came to me during my silent retreat two weeks ago, and I am thinking about scheduling a time to try it out on my Christian friends. Nothing says friendship like being a guinea pig in the name of God's glory :>).

I forgot to mention that Monday as I was leaving daily mass a guy that is a sponsor for one of the RCIA candidates stopped me as I was coming out. He apparently overheard my conversation about our Poverty Awareness Walk and says he wants to get together with me after classes Sunday to talk about how we can make this bigger. He's a social studies teacher at the high school in Coppell. I think I'm also going to record some of my talks and post them. We'll see how that goes tonight.

Walking...and Talking

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:25:00 +0100

Since my last post...

1) I spoke with Monsignor Duesman at St. Ann's. He gave a lukewarm reception to the idea but in retrospect I don't think I was explaining it so that he truly understood what I was trying to get at. I think he was thinking primarily in dollars and cents when I was talking about sharing because he kept bringing up how much money St. Ann's gives. I guess he thought I was looking for money. It is true that this walk will need money to operate - we're going to be giving up our jobs to do this work and we'll still have monetary obligations we have to make sure are met - but it's not primarily about the money. I have a tentative sponsorship agreement in place to provide the majority of those funds, and as soon as I have approval will enact it This is primarily a walk to raise hope, to change people's view of themselves and their neighbors, and to encourage people to come together as a community to overcome the economic challenges we are all facing. He was, however, kind enough to provide me with the name and number of the Parish Council and suggested I bring my information to them and see what they say. He also reiterated what Deacon Pete had said - that I should go through the Bishop for approvals.

2) I spoke with Alan Zimmerer, who said he supports our mission and agrees with the concept. He doesn't know the Dallas bishop at all and has only met the Ft. Worth Bishop twice. However, I may see if he will be willing to help spread the word about the walk and maybe even get the message to Mr. Coniker so that the Apostolate can be introduced to parishes along the way.

3) I spoke with Father Alphonse today. He told me that this is good work, and that I should not give up but continue to pursue it. He suggested I talk with this to Jim Courtney, and then bring it to Monsignor. When I told him I had spoken to Monsignor, he said don't be discouraged and don't ever give up on work like this but keep pushing it until you get your yes.

I am reminded of the important lessons I have learned over my lifetime in the process of getting this walk done.

1) Don't give up just because the first person, or the 10th person, doesn't listen. Keep talking. Eventually SOMEONE will hear you and take action.

2) Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.

3) You won't know how close you were to the finish line until you decide to quit. Then and only then will you realize just how close to victory you really were, and you'll live the rest of your life wishing you hadn't quit in the first place.

4) With God, all things are possible, so don't worry if they tell you it will never work. They are right in human terms, but they don't know what God can do until after He's already done it.

Where we stand

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:45:31 +0100

I've been doing a lot of background work on PAW these last three weeks. I've contacted the deacon of our parish to see about getting approvals. He wants me to come into the office to talk in person. He also suggested I contact the Bishops of each diocese to see if they will support this work. I've talked with Dave Allen at Guadalupe Radio Network, and I will be talking with him again this week, but he says that he believes it is certainly the kind of work that they would be very interested in supporting. I have put together a preliminary sponsorship proposal for Verizon Wireless, and I have received a tentative yes providing that I can secure the media portion of the proposal. You'll notice the logo - that's my handiwork as well.

Today, I spoke with Dennis Brower from the Apostolate. We talked for over an hour, as I explained my ideas and thoughts and the things that had come with me. By the end of our talk, he sounded as excited about this work as I am. He told me that he thinks I probably don't need the Bishop's approval, but the pastor's. He also suggested we pre-record our talks and offer them for others to hear so that they can gauge for themselves whether or not they want to support the work. It's a stellar idea, and one I had already thought of.