Christ the King gives – and not just at Christmas

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – The young mother and foster father were poor. But they chose life for the Baby, even though they had to wrap him in swaddling clothes and lay him in a manger.
He changed the world, and 2,000 years later we’re still celebrating his birth, in part by supporting children and parents in need today.
Among Catholics who do this are the pastor and parishioners of Christ the King Parish, which has held one charity drive after another this fall and supports its sister parish in Haiti year-round.
Sometimes they receive touching responses – a stranger changed by having diapers, a father crying over a coat.
As usual, for Christmas Christ the King parishioners donated gift cards for diocesan seminarians and gifts for Urban Missionaries of Our Lady of Hope to distribute, said Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor.
Another holiday also elicits generosity.
“At our Thanksgiving Day Mass people bring all kinds of canned goods for the local poor,” bringing bags forward during at the offertory and placing them before the altar, Msgr. Sullivan said. The food goes to Our Lady of Providence Parish’ s pantry, across the city on Lincoln Street.  
In October, Respect Life Month, Christ the King’s women’s guild coordinates a “baby bottle drive,” Msgr. Sullivan said. “It used to be (collecting) change in baby bottles” for Visitation House, which serves pregnant women in need and their babies, he said. Since the coronavirus pandemic, “we give out envelopes” for donations, which can also be made online. This charity has garnered between $4,000 and $5,000 each year, the pastor said.
“And then there’s the ongoing commitment to our sister parish,” Immaculate Conception in Les Anglais, Haiti, and its school, Msgr. Sullivan said. Christ the King is committed to sending at least $700 per month. But because of the earthquake in August 2021 which destroyed the church, additional money is earmarked for rebuilding. Msgr. Sullivan said he recently received photos of a center reconstructed for worship, decorated for Immaculate Conception’s feast day.
Christ the King’s Knights of Columbus Council 12691 also holds collections, which have produced some touching responses.
The council seeks money from parishioners for diapers and coats annually, said Grand Knight Richard J. Lane.
This spring the Knights also helped the parish Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts with a returnable bottle/can and cash collection that brought in $1,000 to help aid Ukrainian refugees, said Anthony Penny, one of Christ the King’s Knights. The Ukranian relief efforts were coordinated through the Knight’s supreme council in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Knights also involved parish families in the Little Bottoms Diaper Program run by Catholic Charities Worcester County, Mr. Lane said.
“There’s an emotional hook,” said Wesley Cotter, the Knight coordinating this collection at Christ the King. “I think people really can identify with indigent moms” needing diapers.
 “One of the most striking things I heard when I first started at Catholic Charities some six years ago was that many of the folks we serve are unable to provide more than a diaper or two per day for their child,” noted Timothy J. McMahon, Catholic Charities’ executive director.
Over five years, Christ the King has raised more than $25,000, which enabled Catholic Charities to buy diapers and distribute them to thousands of families in need, he said; “I am always very humbled and appreciative of this effort … which allows us to continue our mission.”
Women consider the economic impact of giving birth and providing for a child, and with abortion available, “I just think it’s crucial that we inform women in this country: ‘We will support you,’” Mr. Lane said.
He has personal reasons to help; childless, he and his wife adopted their daughter. Now he has grandchildren - and hears from his daughter how expensive diapers are!
Mr. Lane learned about the difference diapers can make from a telephone call he received after the Knights’ first diaper drive.
“I just wanted to call you and thank you,” the caller said. She explained that she had wanted to provide for her daughter and set a good example for her, showing that a single woman can survive, even thrive, without a partner.
The mother said she couldn’t do that and felt like a failure. She couldn’t get a job unless she put her daughter in day care, but that meant sending many diapers to day care.
Then she got diapers from Catholic Charities and learned about the Knights’ collection.
 “I got a job and I feel fantastic,” she told Mr. Lane.
Mr. Lane also spoke about the impact of the Coats for Kids collection. Contributions go to the Knights’ supreme council which purchases coats and provides boxes, with 12 coats each, to parish-based councils.
At Christ the King, the late Deacon Joseph M. Baniukiewicz, who served there and was grand knight, managed this project.
“We’ve heard stories back how appreciative the kids are,” Mr. Lane said. Deacon Baniukiewicz saw happy children at a distributionand a coatless father who was small enough for a kid’s coat. Deacon Baniukiewicz gave him one, which moved the father to tears.
The deacon died a year ago. Mr. Lane took over the project this year, renaming it the “Deacon Joe Baniukiewicz Coats for Kids Project.”
“There are so many people that loved Joe in this parish,” said Mr. Lane. “Because we renamed it, people could identify the project in a more personal way.” Contributions increased; the collection totaled more than $5,000, he said.

“Instead of getting nine boxes of coats, we got 19 boxes,” he said. Due to the increased donations and getting them in early; the supreme council matched donations sent in September. So, more recipient agencies were added this year, Mr. Lane said.
“Most of the people at Christ the King don’t need coats” or diapers for free, and they don’t know the people they’re supplying with these items, he said. “They’re doing what Jesus asked us to do: love one another.”