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Nearly
300 women from throughout the diocese joined in worship at Trinity
Cathedral on the afternoon of Feb. 4 for the annual ECW Sunday
service. Filling the pews with the ECW colors of red and cream,
they came to celebrate their shared ministry as members of the
Episcopal Church Women, and to hear a sermon by Diana Frade, wife
of the diocesan bishop.
“I
am proud to say that I join you as an Episcopal Church Woman,”
Mrs. Frade began, telling the women that she sees the women of
the church “in action” every time she visits a congregation
with her husband.
“I
honestly don’t think the churches could function without
us!” she added, to appreciative laughter.
Turning
to her text—“If any of you want to become followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”—she
said, “God has given us the task of raising up children in
the Way…Our cross is to reach out to those children who have
been abandoned, neglected, abused and forgotten.”
She
told the story of her own “transformation from being blind
to the poverty and deprivation that surrounded me”, and of
the founding and the ongoing ministry of Nuestra Pequenas Rosas,
Our Little Roses Ministries, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Before
Our Little Roses, there was no home for girls in Honduras; orphaned,
abandoned or abused girls were sent to the women’s prison
or the reformatory.
It
was when she saw the ministry to boys at El Hogar, the
boys’ home in Tegucigalpa, Mrs. Frade said, that she realized
“that God had worked this miracle through so many Christians
that were willing to share their love…to be God’s hands
and feet to help transform the lives of little children.”
The
“life-transforming event” of seeing Christian love at
work in the lives of forgotten boys led to the founding of Our
Little Roses, and similar “miracles” for the lost girls
of Honduras.
She
urged the women to “champion the cause of children by being
part of their lives” and issued an invitation to visit Our
Little Roses “to experience this extraordinary ministry”.
The
offering from the service was designated for Our Little Roses.
At the reception following the service, diocesan ECW President
Verneka Silva presented Mrs. Frade with a check for close to $1000.
“Unless someone would like to make that $1000,” she
said, pausing before handing her the money. Someone quickly did,
and an even $1000 from the ECW Sunday service is on its way to
be part of the “miracles” at Our Little Roses.
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