Waiting in line

Mrs. Trachim P'08 '10 took some pictures (see below) of the guests tonight lining up for dinner from the chapel window.  The picture of the little boy breaks my heart.  As the father of four, it kills me to see the number of children who come in for meals each day.  I served a family of 7 last night (two tables) with 5 kids and I couldn't help but just look at them as they were eating.  They were so sweet and certainly clueless that they were in a soup kitchen eating their dinner.  I wonder if they (and the others) will ever have a chance and make it out of Kensington.  We can only hope and pray they do.

I also included a picture of Fr. Bill DeBiase, OFM, helping serve dinner.  Fr. Bill lives here at the friary but his full-time job is as a hospital chaplain.  Fr. Bill is an amazing friar and priest who has devoted his life to serving the poorest of the poor, including working for almost 30 years in Japan and then ministering to lepers.  He has come to Trinity a couple of times, most recently in 2012 when Bishop Libasci made a surprise visit.  Fr. Bill and Bishop Libasci are from the same parish in Queens and Bishop Libasci was actually one of the altar servers at Fr. Bill's first Mass as a priest!