People in need benefit from handmade knitwear

Published: 2004-04-22

WILBRAHAM, Mass. (CNS) -- Gloria Youmatz was having a difficult day. It was a rainy, cold June afternoon. She was still grieving the loss of her husband, who died in February 2003. "My hip was bothering me and I was chilly. But I didn't feel up to climbing the stairs to get a sweater," she said. "Then the FedEx man came to the door with a package and I opened it. Inside was a beautiful, handmade shawl. I wrapped it around myself and began to cry. It was like I had gotten a hug," said the 80-year-old member of St. Cecilia Parish in Wilbraham. The cousin of Youmatz's husband had sent the shawl via Trinity Church on the Green, an Episcopal church in New Haven, Conn. "The shawl included a lovely card with a healing prayer and the name of the girl who had knitted it for me," Youmatz told The Catholic Observer, newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield. "I just sat there hugging it." The gift prompted her to suggest a new project for her women's spiritual growth group, which has met weekly at St. Cecilia for the past dozen years for a talk, mediation and sharing. Now, just about every week members of the group are praying over a hand-knitted shawl that is ready to be sent to a person in need.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .