From Father Wilcox's Desk

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When my foot and ankle were crushed in 2003, it took me some time to accept how radically my life was going to change. For a year and a half I tried to live as if I was going to get better, but my situation, and that of my parish, deteriorated. I finally realized I had to resign for both my benefit and that of the parish I so loved and where I had so long served (St Mary of the Angels in Los Angeles, California). It was the first of several uncomfortable realities I would have to face over the coming years. After many years as a "caregiver," I had to accept being cared for, something I've never been comfortable with. Some close friends set up Back On My Feet initially to help with my care, something I agreed to with the stipulation that we would eventually run the Fund to benefit others whose lives were similarly impacted by catastrophic medical situations. I was hospitalized for a year-and-a-half (with occasional times out "for good behavior"), then spent two years confined to my bed or a wheel chair. What remained of my pension went for medical expenses and I came near to bankruptcy.

I am a proud man (not a boast for a priest who is supposed to mirror the humility of his Lord) and disliked--to put it mildly--being dependent on others. But the Lord used the sickness of my body to begin to heal the diseases of my soul (His work is far from over). My damnable pride still remains, but it's been much tempered and softened by having to accept help from those I love and respect.

As my health has slowly recovered, I find myself now in a place to begin to keep my resolution to help others as I myself have been helped. If you'd like to join that effort, if you'd like to make the world a bit better as only an individual can, it's possible. I know of three ways--really all one. Find the donate button on this website and make an offering; remember Back On My Feet when you see someone in dire need and mention our work; and--I save the most important till last--pray for us, our work and the people we help. Prayer is more powerful than money or remembrance. It brings the One Who loves us all into the midst of what we are, after all, doing for His sake.