a
Our relationship with el Portal de Belén ("manger at Bethlehem"), a school and daycare center run by the Missionary Sisters of Jesus in Monte Plata, Dominican Republic, is longstanding and close to our hearts here at St. Catherine's. The Portal educates and feeds more than 200 children each year and offers support for their families as well. The Sisters have also built a university house in Nagua, about an hour north of Monte Plata, to enable graduates of the Portal to study at the university in Nagua.
Support for the Portal de Belén Foundation
You can support the Sisters and the Portal by donating to the Portal de Belén Foundation. The money we have raised over the past 20+ years has helped the Sisters to grow their ministry from 60 students to more than 200. The Portal also provides jobs to members of the community.
Donations can be made by check and should be made out ot the "Portal de Belén Foundation" with "St. Catherine's" in the memo line. Please send checks to Maura Fetsko, 25 Rosina Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850. Thank you!
Cultural Exchanges
St. Catherine's sends groups of youths and adults to the Portal in alternating years. Travelers stay with families in Monte Plata and visit the school to meet the students and Sisters; participate in spiritual and social activities with the Sisters and Lay Missionaries of Jesus; learn about the needs of the community; bring donated clothes, diapers, and medicine; and carry out service projects. They return to share their experiences with the parish as a whole.
Those who have traveled to the Portal and experienced the gracious hospitality of the Sisters and the community say the trip was life changing. You can read diaries from some of our recent trips here:
2016 Monte Plata Trip Diary
2014 Monte Plata Trip Diary
When our teens traveled to Monte Plata in 2015, they took pictures of all the children at the Portal. When our adults traveled there the following month, they brought the printed pictures back to distribute to the children. To see a video of the children's reaction to their pictures, click here.
For more information about our relationship with the Portal de Belén, please contact the Parish Office.