As Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Father Oscar Camomot, who runs KAMAMA Orphanage in the Philippines, takes this passage literally by placing his treasure in the Lord and in the children he cares for each day.

Father Oscar Camomot trusts that God will provide for the children in his care.

In Cebu City, Fr. Oscar devotes not only his time to the 19 children that live at the orphanage, but also his small personal pension from the Archdiocese of Cebu. If the orphanage falls short from time to time, Fr. Oscar uses his own money to pay the bills. To a man who gives almost everything for the children in his care, amassing worldly treasure isn’t important. Fr. Oscar knows that if he didn’t use his retirement account when necessary, the orphans might not receive the meals and school tuition they need.

Fr. Oscar also lives out Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” Fr. Oscar trusts that God will provide for him and the children at KAMAMA Orphanage. With his faith and leadership, the children at KAMAMA  understand how important it is to store up treasures in heaven, not here on earth.

Cross International Catholic Outreach is committed to helping Fr. Oscar meet his orphanage’s budget. We commend Fr. Oscar for giving so selflessly out of what little he has, and we hope that American Catholics will help us make sure he has enough money each month to keep this important ministry running—without using his whole pension.

Click here to read about KAMAMA Orphanage and other programs for orphaned children that Cross International Catholic Outreach supports around the world!

What if Einstein never went to school but made a living running a hot dog stand instead of formulating new ways to ponder creation that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics? Sound preposterous? Not so much, if he’d lived in Haiti, where a college education is about as attainable as a moonwalk. There, poor, gifted, students are relegated to menial labor, and the world never benefits from their brilliance. The long-term effect of such a travesty is the loss of a potential talented, professional workforce that could turn the tide of Haiti’s floundering economy.

If it weren’t for the full scholarship Cross Catholic provides Lourdwidge through H.E.L.P., Haiti would be robbed of a future physician, and a brilliant student would be relegated to a life of continued poverty.

With support from Cross Catholic, Haiti’s hidden Einsteins are getting ‘H.E.L.P.’:
Full scholarships to Catholic Universities through the Haitian Education & Leadership Program—the equivalent of a moonwalk to students like Lourdwige Felizor.

Lourdwidge is one of four siblings. Her father, a carpenter, and her mother, a housewife, sacrificed to send her to an all-girls Catholic school, where she graduated at the top of her class. She had incredible potential, but her father could not afford to send her on to college. When H.E.L.P. saw her scores they invited her to apply for a scholarship. In her essay application, she writes: “If given a chance, I’d like to improve the medical health situation in Haiti and increase the number of doctors here, by becoming one. Once I become a doctor my dream is to give care to the most in need.”

Today, thanks to a H.E.L.P scholarship provided through Cross Catholic, Loudwidge is in her 5th year of medical school and plans to specialize in endocrinology. For Loudwidge, the moon looks closer every day.

During a recent staff gathering, Jim Cavnar, president of Cross International Catholic Outreach, gave a retrospective of 2009. We marveled at how God blessed our ministry, especially during these tough economic times.

Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5)

To-date, through the support of compassionate American Catholics, Cavnar announced we had shipped $150 million worth of much-needed goods, including food, medicines, and medical supplies, to the poor in developing countries; and we had granted $3.8 million in financial aid to Catholic ministries overseas serving the poor through projects such as feeding, housing, schooling, and disaster relief.

Citing scripture from James 2 and Matthew 25, Cavnar’s take on why we’ve experienced such success was profound: God loves the poor. He moves hearts and wallets and people and circumstances to see that the prayers of the poor get answered. Through the ministry of Cross Catholic, God has been answering their prayers, because he loves the poor so very, very much. We have been blessed to be an instrument of His love for them.

God bless you for your prayers and gifts to the poor in 2009.