We come again to that time of year when we have to give
thought to the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal. This annual appeal
is the means by which each and everyone of us has the
opportunity to actively participate in building the Kingdom of
God here and now. The Diocese is simply the Parish writ
Large, and just as we all have the obligation to support our
Parish, so too we must support the Diocese. The principal
means for this is the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal.
The impact of the B.L.A. is widespread and affects us all,
even if at times this may not seem to be readily apparent.
Among the most important aspects of the B.L.A. is
education – on a variety of levels. This past year the
Diocese broke ground for a badly needed new high school.
In addition to this we have the newly reactivated
programme for the training and formation of new
permanent deacons. One of the candidates for the
Permanent Deacon Programme is Andy Usera, a
parishioner of St. Catherine’s. Then there is need of
funding for our seminarians, the future priests of our
diocese. We have a goodly number of seminarians
studying at Mt. St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, St. Charles
Borromeo in Philadelphia and the North American College
in Rome. During the past year St. Catherine’s was
especially blessed to have a First Year Theologian, Mick
Kelly, assigned to us. Mick is an exceptional young man in
many ways: prayerful, educated, intelligent, modest and
well on the way to holiness. The amazing thing is that he is
typical of our seminarians, whose training and formation is
paid for out of the B.L.A. We will all benefit, as these
young men are ordained to the Priesthood.
Our assessed goal for this year’s Bishop’s Lenten Appeal
is $197,000. While this sounds like a very large sum
(which it is) and is, in fact, larger than last year’s goal, it is
still less than the $223,000 that was pledged by St.
Catherine’s parishioners last year (91%, or $202,000 was
collected as of mid January). This means that if everyone
who pledged last year were to repeat that same pledge this
year, we would still exceed our given goal! Now I realize
that not everyone may be able to pledge as much as they
did last year, but some may be able to increase. Hopefully
others who did not pledge at all (we only had about 32%
participation) will this year participate. Each and every one
of us should look to the blessings we have received and
seek to share them.
In the next few weeks you will hear much about the
B.L.A.; next week we will have in pew registration for the
B.L.A. Some of you may have already received a letter
from the Diocese and even pledged. Please be patient if
some of this may seem repetitious or tedious, and know
that it is for the good of our diocese, for the good of our
souls and for the Glory of God.