Friday, October 5
Romania
The NOROC foundation has an animal therapy program that brings love to children who are institutionalized.
The economic crisis has led Romania's notorious child protection system to once again swell with abandoned children. The country is without the resources to take care of hundreds of thousands of children. Unfortunately, the private sector is not developed enough to take up the slack. Hundreds of nongovernmental organizations from all faiths and from all around the world are working tirelessly to let these children know they are not forgotten by God. But there is little coordination or unified effort.
The PC(USA) has many programs and mission outreaches throughout Romania. One of these is the NOROC Foundation in Tulcea. NOROC, which means ``God bless you'' or ``good luck,'' has been in Romania since 2002. It started when Presbyterian elders Dr. and Mrs. Fred White adopted a child from a Romanian orphanage and wanted to make a difference for the hundreds of other children they could not adopt. Along with a Romanian couple, Petru and Marilena Solca, they established a foundation to minister to the approximately 500 children who are in the child protection system in Tulcea County. Beginning in 2001, the PC(USA) supported me as I assisted NOROC in bringing the light of Christ into the dark halls of the orphanages.
Other major projects in Romania are working with the Roma people and helping to integrate a marginalized population into the mainstream of society. God is working in Romania!
- Rev. Mary Ferris, former PC(USA) mission co-worker
Let us join in prayer for:
Partners/Ministries
Reformed Church in Romania (RCR), Cluj Diocese: Bishop Geza Pap * Reformed Church in Romania, Oradea Diocese: Bishop Istvan Csuery * Casuta Noastra Orphanage * United Protestant Theological Institute * Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania-AIDRom * NOROC: Petru Solca, president * Healing of Memories: Dieter Brandes, director
Presbytery Partnerships: Flint River Presbytery and Lehigh Presbytery with the RCR
PC(USA) Agencies' Staff
Virginia Robbins, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Sheila Robinette, Presbyterian Association Of Musicians
Rev. John Robinson, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Let us pray
Dear Almighty Protector and Comforter, be with the children in Romania who feel abandoned by society, and let them know you will never abandon them. Thank you for the witness of the PC(USA) all over Romania and for other Christian groups who come here to stay. Guide us all who work to make Romania a strong nation, accountable to all her citizens. Amen.
Daily Lectionary
Morning Psalms 84; 148
First Reading Hosea 4:11-19
Second Reading Acts 21:37-22:16
Gospel Reading Luke 6:12-26
Evening Psalms 25; 40
