the ocicbw... mob make it real

THE GREAT 2007
CHRISTMAS APPEAL
An OCICBW... Community Initiative

Many of you will know LUIZ COELHO, our friend, the young seminarian from Rio De Janeiro. During this past year he worked on placement at CHRIST THE KING ANGLICAN CHURCH in the Cidade de Deus, one of the most impoverished and dangerous neighbourhoods in the world. The following is an English translation of what this church considers its mission to be in this challenging environment:

We intend to be a place where all are welcome to be free, especially in the Cidade de Deus (City of God) neighborhood, where poverty, violence and hunger are so well-known. And in order to live this Gospel of liberation and reconciliation of the entire world through Christ Jesus, we also seek to integrate the Church with society, through several social projects. Our mission is bold: to say that Christ is the King is to say that love has the last word in the midst of this world of calamities. However, we are sure that, with Him, we are victorious.

I decided some while back that I would like to use this blog to give myself and others the opportunity to show that the blogosphere is as much a part of the real world as anything else and I came to the conclusion that a Christmas appeal would be a good way of doing this. I like to make my charitable giving as specific, as useful and as relevant as possible. Because of our connection to Christ The King and because we can get money directly to them with no administration costs, other than the cost of transferring the money, they seemed like a very suitable project for us to support.

So I got together with ELIZABETH KAETON and we have sorted out a very safe and transparent way of organising this. Laura, the financial guru at Elizabeth's church, THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL, has set up a PayPal account specifically for this venture and we can also accept cheques in the States and in the U.K. The costs should be limited to the 2.9% PayPal charge and the cost of sending the money to Rio.

I see this as very much a community project and I will make sure that the recipient knows this. So please feel free to advertise it on, and link through to it from, your own blogs in whatever way you want to. Make sure you cite the appeal and not MadPriest.

One last thing, and this should be obvious really: if you can't afford to give anything then don't give anything and don't write in to apologise. No apology is necessary. If you feel that you would like to make a donation then be sensible and only give what you afford to give. I am not Bob Geldof, you don't have to give me your f**king money!

So, there it all is except for me telling you how to make your donations:

In the U.K. cheques (made payable to "St. Francis Church") should be sent to:

CITY OF GOD APPEAL,
St. Francis House
18 Cotswold Gardens
High Heaton
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE7 7AE

Please write "City Of God Appeal" on the reverse of the cheque.

In the United States, cheques (made payable to "The Episcopal Church of St. Paul") should be sent to:

CITY OF GOD APPEAL
c/o The Reverend Elizabeth Kaeton
The Episcopal Church of St. Paul
200 Main Street
Chatham, NJ 07928

Please write "City Of God Appeal" on the front of the cheque.

However, the easiest and tidiest way for you to pay is by credit or debit card through PayPal. If you click on the DONATE logo and then follow the instructions your money will be whizzing its way to Brazil in no time.

Oh, by the way - and my apologies for doing this to you - these are some of the people you will be helping - dressed in their Sunday best.

The appeal will run throughout December and will just sort of fizzle out sometime during the first couple of days of January (depending on how long it takes me to recover from New Year's Eve).