Commentary

  • Commentary,  JustLove

    Hard Work and Sacrifice

    Being great servants makes a nice holy card, but not in real life. There are the C-suites, seats in Church sanctuaries, inner circle tables at banquets, private banking floors, platinum memberships for early plane boarding, etc. These are what we strive for. We were taught by our families to work hard and get ahead. Our schools drive competition to be at the top of class. Thank God – but more precisely thank Jesus. He decided that being on top meant climbing to the top of Calvary’s hill and hanging on a cross so that He could save the world and all in it. He accepted a different way for our…

  • Commentary

    Drum Major Institute Prayer Service Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    5th Avenue Presbyterian Church * Sunday January 14, 2108 * 4:00 PM Invocation – Msgr. Kevin Sullivan Almighty God, Creator & Savior; it is good that you gather us for these moments of hope and solidarity. They sustain us in a world too often devoid of these life-giving virtues. Thank you the blessed legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: a lofty heavenly dream of justice, wedded to gritty earthly action. We rejoice for the many acts of service and volunteering to be carried out this weekend. But, Lord, help us to not so raise up these deeds of caring that we domesticate Dr. King’s memory by failing to call…

  • Commentary,  Dominican Republic Visit,  JustLove

    Villa Altagracia – Apparel Factory & Workers – Day 4

      The day began with three generations of the Hodge family, 11 of us, and luggage, crowded into a mini-bus for a two and a half hour trip from La Romana to Villa Altagracia in San Cristobal, located outside of Santo Domingo. The driver had an interesting approach that included driving ten miles in the wrong direction, slowing down on open highways and speeding up in crowded city streets. Oh well. 

  • Commentary,  Dominican Republic Visit,  JustLove

    Our Visit to Hogar Niños de Cristo – Day 3

    Today, we spent the day with 36 boys and young men who now call Niños de Cristo and their dedicated staff their home.  We were joined by Donnie Hodge and his wife Ana.  Donny is the owner of Altagracia Apparel.  I’ll write more about this tomorrow after we visit his “fair wage and working conditions” factory in Villa Altagracia and talk with some of the families whose lives have been changed because of these jobs.    Sadly, some children cannot be raised and nurtured safely with their own families for many different reasons.  Niños de Cristo provides the “family” for about 40 of these youth in the Dominican Republic.  This…

  • Commentary,  Dominican Republic Visit,  JustLove

    Our Visit to the GOYA Plant in Santo Domingo – Day 2

      Our generous partner in feeding hungry New Yorkers, GOYA Foods, invited us to tour its plant in the Dominican Republic.  This provided an opportunity to see one of their busy factories that employs about 500 people. In addition to seeing the hard working men and women on the floor of the plant we also met the factory administrators. We also saw the finca (land) where gauyabas (guava) are grown.  I was accompanied on the tour by the director of quality control, a chemical engineer, charged with complying with regulations of both the Dominican Republic and the United States. He said most of the product from this factory is shipped…