CARNEYS POINT – “I’ve been helping people all my life. I’ve devoted myself to stewardship years before I knew of this spiritual movement,” said Peggy Haines of Corpus Christi Parish.
Haines said she moved to Carneys Point from Pittsburgh in the 1950s and went to St. James Church in Penns Grove because it was the only church in the area at the time. There was none in Carneys Point.
The 81-year-old has been volunteering to help others for some 50 years along with her late husband, Donald, “who died very young,” she said. “I actually got into the stewardship program about eight years ago when it started. To be a vibrant
parish, you need stewardship. That’s a foregone conclusion as I see it.”
“In those days you went to the church in your town,” Haines noted, “but since we didn’t have a church in Carneys Point we attended Mass for several years in St. James High School cafeteria until one was built.”
Corpus Christi Church was dedicated in 1983.
“Stewardship is a great spirituality,” Haines said, “and I hope we can expand it as we go to the pastoral planning process.”
Although a college graduate with an accounting degree, her late husband didn’t want her to work. He believed the woman should stay home to raise the children.
“I agree with that,” said Haines. So she stayed home to raise their two children and performed volunteer work such as Meals on Wheels, where shut-ins are delivered hot nutritious meals, and taught religious education. That started in 1958 and continues today. When she realized how long she had been doing that, she exclaimed, “Has it been almost 50 years? My word,” and she chuckled.
But Haines keeps her accounting skills honed by doing the taxes for parishioners, especially for senior citizens, free of charge.
She had also volunteered with the Red Cross in Salem County for many years, Haines said, and after her husband died and her children were grown, she became director of the Red Cross when the position opened and when it was offered to her. The woman who had been director had called Haines and said they needed a new leader.
“I have a guardian angel who’s been looking over me all my life,” Haines said. “And she was caring for me when I went to apply for the job. Thirty people had already interviewed for the job. The day I went for my interview, I got it.”
She remained there from 1968 to 1988.
Haines was elected to the parish council four years ago and she’s also a member of the parish planning committee. Her other ministries include coordinator of the Friendly Visiting Ministry, a position she took on two years ago, where people in nursing homes and elsewhere are visited; president of the Rosary Altar Society for the past 10 years; and lead volunteer for Rosary Altar Society annual breakfast. Haines noted one of her goals is to get people from 40-60 – and younger – to become part of the Rosary Altar Society.
One of the things she is especially proud of is her role as a witness speaker for the Stewardship Commitment Weekend.
When she speaks of talent she talks of the early death of her husband, Donald. She was feeling sorry for herself when she was told he didn’t have long to live.
“My husband didn’t leave me alone on earth,” she says. “Jesus assigned a special guardian angel to me to guide me on my mission. I decided it was my mission on earth to continue the good work and deeds that were passed on to me.”
Among her talents was her love for children so she decided to teach first grade religious education. Gaining a child’s insight into his or her feelings and needs “was a talent I was not aware I had.”
Treasure, she explains as a witness speaker “is probably the most challenging of all the gifts God gave to me.”
Haines notes that whatever treasures God gives to her “is not mine to keep for myself. The more treasure I have, the more I have to share.”
She didn’t have much money after her husband’s death, she says, and because of that many things were given to her through the kindness of people.
“I could live to be 100 and never be able to repay everything that I received,” she says.
Haines says that time is a gift from God and “I have no idea how much time I have left on this earth. Therefore, I try to make every minute as productive as possible.”
Father Paul Harte, pastor of Corpus Christi and St. James, said of Haines, “She’s a woman who puts the needs of the community before herself. She’s conservative and people recognize who she is and will step up to her to ask what they can do, what’s necessary, what must be done.
“She’s a perfect example of stewardship becoming a way of life,” Father Harte added.
For more information on stewardship contact Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.