Weekly THIS AND THAT for February 15, 2009: Archbishop’s Appeal Benefits All, Including Our Parish

This and That:
Archbishop’s Appeal Benefits All, Including Our Parish


In last week’s column I introduced the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. I reviewed the purpose of the Appeal, that is, the programs, services, and ministries that it funds. The Appeal is an excellent opportunity for each of us to assist in making God’s work happen beyond the boundaries of our parish. It is an opportunity to work together as an Archdiocesan Church.

Each parish in the Archdiocese is given a dollar goal for this Appeal. The goals are set at approximately 9% of parish offertory income. Our goal here at Our Lady of Grace is $__,___. That sounds like and is a lot of money, but it is the same percentage as would be applied to parishes that are much smaller and with much less income. I suppose that the Lord’s words apply as we look at this: “From those to whom much has been given, much will be expected.” Our goal is just that: a goal. It is not a mandatory amount, although we will work hard to meet it. In the end, we give what we can.

While I shared last week all the various needs that this Appeal will meet, I did not share that 25% of what we as a parish give will come right back to us. Yes, you heard it correctly! Our Lady of Grace’s share will be 25% of our total contribution. So, if we achieve our goal of $__,___, we will receive $__,___ back. Each parish is asked to state what it will do with its 25% share. We have selected three purposes or uses:
➢ 1/3rd for Tuition Assistance for parishioners whose children attend Our Lady of Grace School. We do this especially because the Archdiocese is providing a match for what we designate for tuition assistance.
➢ 1/3rd to assist our sister parish, St. Cecilia’s in Baltimore City with some necessities that they cannot sustain.
➢ 1/3rd for Debt Reduction

We like this distribution of our parish share of Appeal funds because it provides some additional help to the Parish, to parishioners who are in special need, and to an Inner City Parish that does not have the funding base that we enjoy here at Our Lady of Grace.

How much should we contribute to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal? Ultimately, we all need to decide this for ourselves. Please be aware that the Archbishop does not want this to take the place of or interfere with our regular weekly Offertory giving to the Parish. Our contributions to the Parish do come first.
I would recommend as a possible guideline that we give 10% of what we give annually to the Parish Offertory. So, if you give $1,000 a year to the parish in the Weekly Offertory, you might consider a gift of $100 to this Appeal. Some of us may be unable to give as much as this 10%. Some have lost jobs and some are having their salary frozen. On the other hand, others may be able to give more than the 10% to help where others are not able to do so. I know of one family who is pledging to give 30% of what they give to the Offertory.

If we simply give according to our means and use what I am saying here as a rule of thumb, we as individuals and we as Our Lady of Grace Parish will be responding with appropriate generosity and should come very close to or meet our goal.

Fondly,
Father Nicholas