Celebrating the ministry and vision of Bishop Weigand

Laity, clergy and religious are invited to attend two events in November in honor of Bishop William K. Weigand for his 15 years of service to the Diocese of Sacramento.

A farewell celebration dinner for Bishop William K. Weigand to mark his 15th anniversary as bishop of Sacramento and pending retirement will be held on Monday, Nov. 24 at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento.

The event begins at 6 p.m. with a no-host social hour followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person or a table of 10 costs $500. Seating is limited. To download a form to reserve a seat, link to the reservation form below.

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 Link to reservation form for Farewell Celebration Dinner

 Link to Bishop Weigand's Oct. 4 "Feed My Lambs" column about impending retirement

Parish ministries benefit from most successful Annual Catholic Appeal

For volunteer Peggy Steele, it’s all about helping people. There is the young Hispanic family who drop by often, always with a few cute kids in tow. An older man, sometimes accompanied by his wife, piles whatever emergency food aid he can fit onto his lap and in the storage area of his wheelchair. Then there’s the young woman who drops by regularly with a baby and a toddler, asking for help in providing for her children.

“It’s quite anonymous, and they are all grateful people,” said Steele, who works each Monday assisting needy families at the Food Locker, a ministry of St. Isidore Parish in Yuba City. “We have diapers, too, and that’s a biggie.”

The Food Locker is just one of the many social-service efforts that benefit from the 2008 Annual Catholic Appeal in the Diocese of Sacramento, a vital outreach in Christian stewardship that has exceeded all expectations.

The numbers tell the story of the 2008 appeal. The $1.9 million raised this year was a 60 percent increase over the total for 2007. More impressively, participation has more than doubled, from 5,062 donors in 2007 to more than 10,500 in 2008 — a 105 percent rise, far greater than the 50 percent increase that diocesan leaders had hoped for.

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 Link to more information about the Annual Catholic Appeal

Bishop Soto to celebrate Red Mass Oct. 8 at cathedral

The Diocese of Sacramento and the St. Thomas More Society of Sacramento, an independent organization of Catholic lawyers in the Sacramento area and an affiliate of the Sacramento County Bar Association, will co-sponsor the annual Red Mass on Oct. 8 at 5 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto will be the celebrant and homilist.

Attorneys, judges, elected and appointed officials and all those working in the legal system or involved in the process of government in the five-county Sacramento region are invited to attend the Mass.

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 Link to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament

Diocesan youth invited to assembly October 13

Theme is "Stir into Flame the Gift of God"

Young adults ages 18 to 39 in the diocese are invited by Bishop William K. Weigand and Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto to attend a diocesan assembly from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 13 at St. Isidore Parish in Yuba City.

With the theme, “Stir into Flame the Gift of God,” the gathering will give diocesan and parish leaders an opportunity to listen to and dialogue with young Catholics about what the church means in their lives and how they might better engage themselves in the Gospel mission.

The gathering is part of the implementation plan from the Third Diocesan Synod, which called for a major assembly in the fall of 2008 to focus on priorities from the synod such as evangelization, faith formation, vocations and service.

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