A groundswell of support throughout the diocese for people in need has made the 2006 Annual Catholic Appeal the most successful in its 16-year history.

This year 7,596 donors contributed a record breaking $1,136,768 in gifts and pledges, benefiting 20 charitable organizations and agencies.

This is a considerable increase over the 2005 appeal, in which there were 5,709 donors who contributed more than $945,000.

In addition, 44 percent of last year’s donors have contributed again this year and of that group, 21 percent have increased their contribution.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of the appeal is that participating charities received a 15.7 percent increase over last year.

The appeal was conducted by mail to approximately 80,000 Catholic households in February and in parishes Feb. 25-26.

“We are grateful for the many people who made this past appeal the best we ever had,” said Father Michael Kiernan, vicar for social services for the diocese. “Each year the needs grow greater and the need to reach out grows as well.”

The appeal’s success is certainly good news, said Elizabeth White, associate director for social service ministry for the diocese, but unfortunately the need among charities has never been greater.

“As incredible as it may seem, right here in the 20 countries of our diocese, good people suffer on a daily basis,” White said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever have enough money to meet the need.”

Diocesan officials have identified several factors contributing to the record-breaking success of the 2006 Annual Catholic Appeal.

Beginning in 2003, the diocese changed the name of the annual fund-raiser from “Stewardship Appeal” to “Catholic Appeal,” making for a more effective identification with the social service work for which monies are intended.

The biggest change came in 2005 when it was decided that 25 percent of donors’ contributions would be returned to individual parishes for their social service outreach activities. Individual parish communities determine how funds will be used to assist people in need in the parish area.

Father Michael Hebda, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Redding, said that it was crucial that the church community responded with generosity this year to a dire financial need among social service organizations.

“Shasta is one of the poorer counties in the state, with regard not only to the homeless but the mentally ill,” said Father Hebda, explaining that Our Lady of Mercy’s portion of the annual appeal benefited such local organizations as Fruits of the Harvest, Good News Rescue Mission and Loaves and Fishes.

“There was a great need for help and the parish was generous with that,” he said.

Father Hebda added that for the Catholic Appeal mailings to identify regional social service needs was especially effective.

At St. Patrick Parish in Grass Valley, Father Timothy Nondorf, pastor, said the parish community’s 1,600 families contributed $36,000 to the 2006 Annual Catholic Appeal.

The parish plans to use its portion of the appeal proceeds to fund a charity account established to assist several local charities that serve the poor.

Parishioners’ contributions “say a lot about the generosity of the families here,” Father Nondorf said. “You’ll never go broke betting on the generosity of people.”

In the rural community of Maxwell in Colusa County, members of Sacred Heart Parish will utilize their share of appeal funds to help some of the poorest of the poor who are their neighbors.

Father Francisco Hernandez-Gomez, pastor of Sacred Heart, said that the church has a “Helping Hands” fund established, in part, to assist the large number of migrant workers who live and work the land but during off-season find themselves struggling to make ends meet.

“Our community was generous when we asked them to help,” Father Hernandez-Gomez said. “They know there are people with more needs than themselves and are very generous.”

As tallies for the 2006 Annual Catholic Appeal conclude, letters with information about the 2007 appeal have gone out to pastoral council chairpersons in the diocese’s 101 parishes from Msgr. Robert Walton, vicar general.

In the letter, Msgr. Walton encouraged parish leaders to lend their voices to “help move people to action.”

It includes a reminder from Bishop William K. Weigand that the appeal “has become a highly productive way” to give life to the words of the diocesan synod Pastoral Initiative 7, encouraging “the development in every parish of an integrated model of social ministry.”

The 17th Annual Catholic Appeal is planned to occur during late January through February 2007, with the appeal commitment weekend in parishes on Feb. 17-18.

Copyright © 2006 Diocese of Sacramento - All Rights Reserved