Catholics throughout the Diocese of Sacramento are being asked to donate this month to the “14th Season of Giving,” the 2003 Annual Catholic Appeal, to assist ministries to the needy in Northern California.

Monies from the appeal will help fund 20 different charitable organizations and agencies, which run more than 100 life-sustaining programs.

Eighty percent of the appeal funds will go toward life-sustaining services such as food, shelter, counseling, maternity homes, housing, and help for seniors and the disabled. Twenty percent of the funds will go toward educational services for youth, immigrants and refugees.

Approximately 85,000 Catholic households in the 20-county diocese recently received advance notice of the appeal through a brochure and pledge card (in English and Spanish), sent to them by the diocese’s Office of Stewardship and Development.

Bishop William K. Weigand, writing to potential donors, said the appeal is in keeping with the words from the Gospel of Matthew: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).

“While God blesses us in many ways every day of our lives, we are called to be poor in spirit, meek, thirsty for righteousness, merciful, clean of heart and peacemakers,” the bishop said.

“The Annual Catholic Appeal is a means to put our calling into action. The need continues to be urgent. I ask for your financial participation at whatever level you can afford — over and above what your do personally and through your parish.”

Until this year, the appeal was known as the Diocesan Stewardship Appeal, which has been in place since 1990 to support various charitable, educational and spiritual programs of the diocese. The name Annual Catholic Appeal has been adopted to help clarify the nature of the appeal, according to Msgr. Robert Walton, vicar general of the diocese.

In 2002, the annual appeal received $1 million, a portion of the diocese’s “Preserving Our Past, Building Our Future” capital campaign.

In his letter to donors, the bishop noted that last year the collected funds were distributed to local charitable programs “that successfully helped the homeless, the hungry, the disadvantaged, and the marginalized in our midst — indeed, the ‘least’ of our brothers and sisters.”

The annual appeal ensures financial support for numerous diocesan programs and services, including Catholic Social Service (Northern Valley, Solano and Sacramento), Sacramento Food Bank Services, Centro Guadalupe, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Patrick’s Children’s Home, the Cathedral Neighborhood Senior Center and the Catholic School Scholarship Program.

The appeal also helps sustain many other organizations with funds, including Anderson-Cottonwood Christian Assistance, the Davis Crisis Pregnancy Center, the Sacramento Life Center, Francis House, Mercy Education Resource Center, the Mother Teresa Maternity Home, Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center, Wellspring Women’s Center, WIND Youth Center and others.

Father Michael Kiernan, director of social service ministry for the diocese, said the need for the Annual Catholic Appeal is even more urgent this year, due to reductions in funding from government sources.

“This appeal is for needs that are too large for any parish or service organization to handle alone,” he said.

“Because of our Catholic social teaching, we believe that all people have a right to fully participate in society,” he added. The Annual Catholic Appeal is “a primary opportunity for Catholics to help remove the obstacles of hunger, homelessness, lack of education, and loneliness, that keep disadvantaged people from their rightful place in society.”

Donors can contribute to the appeal by returning their pledge card to the Diocese of Sacramento (2110 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818) or by using pledge envelopes that will be available in parishes beginning Nov. 8-9 and during a collection in all parishes in the diocese at weekend Masses on Nov. 15-16.

Contributors can make a one-time gift or can be billed for their pledge on a monthly or quarterly basis over a period of nine months.

For more information about the Annual Catholic Appeal, call of the Office of Stewardship and Development at (916) 733-0266.

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