Newsletter #41 - December 2025
Dear friends of Mary’s Auxiliary,
A very happy Advent to all of you! It seems as if a century has passed since the fundraiser in August. We have so much to be grateful to you for. Your generosity was amazing! We’re still thanking all of you in our hearts.
Now Santa’s little elves, who are wearing brown this year, are busily at work at the Georgetown station of the North Pole, baking, setting out the boxes of decorations, stuffing envelopes with our Christmas card, and going through the mayhem of getting envelopes ready to mail. How we can talk and work is the eighth wonder of the world. It’s clear that St. Teresa was acting out of her experience when she ordered that we normally work in silence! Our caretakers have just hung wreaths on our outside doors, set up the icicle lights, and are working on the Nativity located down by the chaplain’s house.
To better pay attention to the coming of the little Jesus, each Sister takes a day alone with Him, spending the time in prayer and quiet. It takes us fourteen days to rotate through everyone, but each Sister gets her “recollection” day and puts all her love into preparing her heart to receive Him on Christmas Eve. And this Christmas Eve will mark a 90-year anniversary for us: 90 years since our coming to Sacramento from Alhambra. We give thanks to God for His love and protection through the years, even when we got down to two Sisters at one point…
No stray reindeers have been sighted yet, but there are plenty of rabbits, raccoons, and bobtailed deer strutting about the property like they owned the place. In their own way, they’re preparing for little Jesus too. Let’s all await Him with light hearts. We promise to keep watch for you at His Christmas crib, and we’ll pray for you each day until then. God bless you all!
Mother Mary Bethany & Sisters
Auxiliary News, December 2025
As the year draws to a close, we look back on how we did as an auxiliary. First of all, I would like to thank our board of directors who have given so unselfishly of their time and talents to keep this Auxiliary for the Carmelite Nuns of Georgetown running.
Here are your board members:
Eileen Fox, Treasurer and manager of the emails’
Toni Collins, Secretary
Marykate Kauffman, Website and design
Alma Cortez, Auction Coordinator
Henry Luckie, Raffle Coordinator
(Stacey and Derk Burrus, new Raffle Coordinators)
Dori Hoffman, Volunteer Coordinator
Marcia Hartman, Publicity Chair
Barbara Sloan, Holy Face Kits
Teresa Cameron, Bill Quiroz, Brenda McCollum, David Fox, At Large
Together, this is a fantastic team and have all of our gratitude.
Fundraiser Dinner & New Donation Method for the Sisters
This past summer we held our very successful fundraiser dinner for the Carmelite Nuns of Georgetown, and it was a sold-out affair. St. Clare Church in Roseville once again hosted us. The Knights of Columbus cooked stuffed pork tenderloin and it was delicious! Over all we were able to give over $21,000.00 to the Carmelites because of your generosity. Those who purchased large ticket items have already received the Sisters’ Tax Identification number for tax purposes. If you need this information, please just email us. We are extremely grateful for all your generosity! For the Sisters, it means the difference between being able to repair a leaky roof or not.
Many people have signed up with their bank to send the Sisters a monthly donation; this is very helpful to them in planning their budget. We encourage you to do this. Therefore, we want to let you know that there is a new way to donate directly to the Sisters using their own secure link: https://donorbox.org/donate-ocd-sac
You can set up a single donation, or multiple or recurring donations. Please consider a recurring donation if you would like to make your monthly donation automatic. The sisters also have a QR code to make accessing the link even easier!
Of course, you can always just mail them a check. Please use the address as below:
Carmel of the Holy Family and St. Therese
P.O. Box 4210
Georgetown, CA 95634
In any case, this is always their mailing address.
Finally, you can always donate through the Auxiliary website’s donation link at any time. Rest assured, we always forward your donation directly to the Sisters. Of course, with the new donation link that the Sisters have created, we encourage you to take advantage of their new link! Remember, every donation counts. Whether you can give $5, 10, 20 dollars or more per month, it adds up and the Sisters really need it!
I know you are getting pleas from everyone under the sun for donations right now, but the Carmelite Sisters are right here in our own backyard, and they pray for us every day. They do not have a slick advertising budget, mailers, free calendars, shopping bags, tacky rosaries or other give aways. But they certainly pray for us all the time. They are dedicated to prayer for our diocese. Please consider a donation to them now, and an ongoing donation each month.
Thank you, Merry Christmas, and God bless you!
Patty MacEgan,
Chairman, OLMCA
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Auxiliary