A Busy Church About To Get Busier: Christmas at Saint Dunstan’s

by The Reverend Dr. Roman D. Roldan on November 06, 2024

TLDR: The Holidays are a special time to show our generosity and gratitude for the gifts God continues to give us. Please read below for a list of projects we have planned for this busy season.

We are an incredibly generous congregation, and nothing gets us in the Christmas Spirit more than the many events we have done for years to assist a number of institutions that depend on us. This year, we will do a few things differently, so please keep this blog as a guide for all our offerings. We do not want you to miss out on helping our community this season.

Seafarer’s Shoebox Project: Each year, the Houston International Seafarers Center distributes 8,000 to 11,000 shoeboxes filled with essential items to seafarers visiting the Port of Houston. These dedicated men and women often spend long periods aboard marine vessels, separated from their loved ones. With your support, we can provide thousands of seafarers with special boxes filled with treats and gifts during the holiday season. These boxes are personally delivered to each ship by Seafarers Center Chaplains and staff. Follow the instructions below:

What do I put in the shoeboxes? We are asking parishioners to shop our amazon list at https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/17G3GLLCFNQ48. These items will be delivered directly to Saint Dunstan’s. It is very important that you shop before December 11th for on-time delivery. Please shop early!

Do you need help Filling up the Boxes? Yes, please plan to join us during Breakfast with St. Nicholas on December 14th from 9am-11am.

Christmas Toy Drive for the Poor: For the last two months, members of our Spanish Congregation have been collecting names of poor children whose families are not yet connected to Social Services Agencies in our community. This year, we will be doing a 70-bag Christmas toy drive to be distributed to children identified by members of this congregation. As usual, each bag will be identified with the name of a child and his or her age.

But I always help the NAM toy drive: Please continue to do so, since we are closely associated with NAM and do not want to compete with them. If you are able, help us with a bag for us in addition to a bag for NAM. We are learning that many newcomers to our community are not registering with NAM or other Agencies for fear of the authorities, language difficulties, pride, etc. Our internal project will augment what NAM does, but we are targeting children who fall between the cracks.

When do you need the bags returned? We will run the project from November 10 to December 10. Members of our congregation will begin delivering these bags to various homes after 12/10. Father Pinzon will also hand deliver some of these bags at a special service to which these families will be invited on December 15^th.

Kids Hope 10 for 10: In September of 2024 we began a “10 for 10” campaign to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of our mentoring program at Eiland Elementary. In September we published several blogs about the ministry. In October we collected $10 dollar gift cards to place in Teacher Recognition bags throughout the year. During the following months we will do two special campaigns, after learning that a large percentage of families at Eiland fall below the Federal Poverty Line and some are homeless. These will be “Low-Effort, High-Impact” campaigns, by which I mean that even a $5 or $10 donation will go a long way.

November 10 for 10: We will provide Ten Thanksgiving Baskets for 10 Eiland families selected by the school. The Rector’s Discretionary and Kids Hope Funds will purchase all the items, members of the ministry will put together the baskets, and volunteers will deliver the baskets to the school. Parishioners are invited to contribute financially. A small $5 or $10 donation will be sufficient. Make checks out to Saint Dunstan’s with a MEMO: Kid’s Hope or Rector’s Fund.

December 10 for 10: We will provide ten Christmas Baskets for 10 Eiland families. Parishioners are invited to contribute nonperishable food items from November 1 through December 10^th. The Rector’s Fund will purchase some proteins right before delivery. The team will put together the baskets and deliver them to the school.

Seminarian Support Program: We are currently supporting Hannah Smith for the priesthood (Second Year at Seminary of the Southwest) and Jaime Munoz for the Diaconate (First Year at IONA School for Ministry). If you have a heart for the formation of men and women for the ministry, you may want to send a donation to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund with a MEMO: Seminarians. We assist with some tuition fees, books, and special donations for various needs.
Other: If the ministry closest to your heart is not listed in this blog, or you want to make an additional contribution, let me suggest the two homelessness programs with whom we are affiliated. Hope Center Houston is dear to many of us and remains one of our favorite outreach ministries in this community. Send a check directly to them at 821 Peakwood Drive, Houston, TX 77090-2905. The second ministry dear to us is Lord of the Streets, please consider sending a donation directly to them at 3401 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77004.

If you have any questions about any of these projects, please contact me directly. May our Lord continue to bless you,

Fr. Roman+

About the Author

The Reverend Dr. Roman D. Roldan

The Rev. Dr. Roman D. Roldan is originally from Colombia, South America, where he lived until he migrated to the United States for College in Southwest Miami in the late 1980s. He attended the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium for graduate school in theology, followed by a master’s degree in social work at Rutgers University in New Jersey in the early 1990s. From 1995 to 2005, he worked as a bilingual psychotherapist, administrator, and Chief Deputy Officer for a national behavioral healthcare company in Florida. He became an Episcopalian in the year 2000 at Grace Episcopal Church, Ocala, Florida. In 2005, he attended Trinity School for Ministry, graduating in 2007 with his master’s degree in divinity and in 2016 with his doctorate in divinity with a concentration in preaching.

Fr. Roldan has been an Associate Dean at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa, the Rector of Grace Church of West Feliciana Parish in Saint Francisville, Louisiana, for eleven years, and the Rector of Saint Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, for nearly five years. From 2017 to 2020, Fr. Roldan served as a seminary professor at Trinity School for Ministry’s Spanish online program. He also served from 2015-2019 as the Episcopal Chaplain at Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as “Angola Prison.” He was the Dean of the Baton Rouge Deanery in the Dioceses of Louisiana from 2016-2020. From 2010 to 2020, Fr. Roldan served as a short-term missionary in the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras and built the Episcopal Church in El Carmen, San Nicolas. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Seminary of the Southwest since 2021. He has been a chaplain to 3 Cursillo and two Happening teams since his ordination. He is passionate about the supervision of curates and raising vocations to the diaconate and the priesthood.

Fr. Roldan has been married to Chris Anna Roldan for 31 years and has four children ages 30, 27, 22, and 20. He is an avid reader, traveler, and amateur writer. He is the author of A Blind Man and his Monkey and is currently working on his second novel, The Ghost and his Baby.

Email: frroman@saintdunstans.org

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