Just as the Catholic Services Appeal sent out its end-of-the-year mailing, Archbishop John Nienstedt announced that the Appeal had surpassed its 2011 goal of $9.3 million.
Michael Halloran, director of the CSA, said the archdiocesan Office of Development and Stewardship invites the Catholic faithful to support the Appeal throughout the calendar year.
“We just sent an end-of-year mailing to folks who have supported the Appeal in the past but maybe haven’t had an opportunity to make a gift yet this year,” he said. “It’s a great time of the year to do that, for obvious reasons: end-of-the-year tax consequences, and it’s that giving time of year.”
Sign of generosity
During a Nov. 17 interview, Halloran said the CSA had raised $9.535 million, which is the most ever raised by the Appeal.
Halloran added that he expects the final number for 2011 to reach $9.7 million. Last year, the CSA raised $9.4 million.
“[The contributions in this challenging economy are] an indication of the generosity of the Catholic faithful in our archdiocese, that they see the need to support the shared ministries of the church,” Halloran said. “The way we describe shared ministries is those ministries that any individual parish or person can’t do alone, but together as a diocesan church we can share our resources to make those ministries possible.”
Among the shared ministries are the seminary, priests retirement, Catholic education, tuition assistance, Catholic Charities and more.
“The needs are certainly much greater than the goal,” he said. And, 25 percent of the donations go back to support local parish ministries.
The theme for the 2012 Appeal will be “Many are the Promises of God,” which is based on the Scripture readings for the CSA kickoff weekend at the beginning of Lent.
Make a gift to the 2011 Catholic Services Appeal or to offer your time and talent in 2012.
