The Diocese of Wilmington has set a target of $3,825,100 for the 2008 Annual Catholic Appeal, a 4 percent increase over the 2007 target of $3,678,000.Parishioners will learn about this year’s appeal during Announcement Weekend, March 29-30. Campaign details will be described through pulpit and bulletin announcements. In-pew solicitations will take place during Commitment Weekend, set for April 5-6. The campaign theme is “Revealing Jesus Through Our Works of Mercy,” derived from the Gospel reading for that weekend, the Third Sunday of Easter.
The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy “are the reason behind every ministry and service supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal,” Bishop Saltarelli said in announcing the campaign. “To feed the hungry, counsel the hurting, shelter the homeless, tend to the sick, the imprisoned, these are just a few ways in which we try to respond to the Gospel mandate given to us by the Lord Jesus.”
Contributions to the Appeal, now in its 33rd year, help support more than two dozen ministries in the diocese, many of them serving people with great medical, emotional, educational and financial needs.
Although the diocese has increased its goal this year, that target is still below the actual amount collected during the 2007 campaign, the best in the Appeal’s first 32 years. Contributions to the 2007 Appeal totaled $4,164,139, topping the 2006 figure by $223,219 and exceeding the campaign goal by 13.2 percent.
Advance solicitation for the 2008 Appeal is already under way. During Circle of Honor dinners held Feb. 10 at St. Ann in Wilmington and Feb. 17 at St. John the Apostle in Milford, Bishop Saltarelli thanked major donors to last year’s record-setting campaign and encouraged them to continue their leadership and support this year. The third Circle of Honor Dinner will be held Sunday Feb. 24 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Bear.
The priests who lead the diocese's seven deaneries, geographical clusters of parishes, set parish targets for the 2008 Appeal at a meeting in early February. Targets increased for some parishes and fell for others. In setting targets, the deans consider numerous factors, including parish population shifts, current debt levels, parish performance in the Appeal during the last three years and any extenuating circumstances.
Parishes benefit directly when their parishioners make contributions that exceed the parish's campaign goal. In most cases, parishes receive 50 percent of the amount collected in excess of their goal. Parishes that sponsor a Catholic elementary school receive all contributions collected in excess of their goal. From last year’s campaign, $438,910 was returned to parishes for their own use, according to Philip A. Belt, diocesan development director.
Ministries and agencies that receive funding from the Appeal are: Catholic Education (Campus Ministry, Catholic Youth Ministry, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Catholic Schools, Deaf Ministry, Religious Education and Special Needs Ministry); High Schools (Padua Academy, St. Mark’s. St. Elizabeth, St. Thomas More Preparatory and Ss. Peter and Paul); Pastoral Services (Institutional Chaplains, Hispanic Ministry, Ministry for Black Catholics, Office of Worship, Office for Religious and Ordained Deacons); Catholic Charities (Adoption, AIDS Ministry, Bayard House, Casa San Francisco, Catholic Thrift Store, Child and Adult Food Care Program, Clinical and Children’s Services, Crisis Alleviation, Energy Program, Family Life Bureau, Immigration and Refugee Resettlement Program, Parish Social Ministry, Pre-Adolescent Program and Seton Center); and Communications and Administration (Office of Public Relations and Media, The Dialog, Catholic Press Inc., Tribunal and Women’s Commission).
Here are the programs supported by the
Annual Catholic Appeal:
Catholic Education
Catholic Schools effectively preserve the traditions, stories, experiences, and teachings of our Catholic community for our youth. The 30 Catholic schools operating today educate nearly 15,000 students in the region and are dedicated to providing superior academics in the context of our faith. Each school has its own special character with Catholicity and quality education as hallmarks.
Special Needs Ministry offers educational programs to children and adults alike. Services prepare youth to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist, and Confirmation. In addition, the Diocese also sponsors regular prayer groups based on the L’Arche model for members of the adult Faith and Light community.
Catholic Youth Ministry trains young people as leaders, provides a healthy physical outlet through CYM Athletics, serves as an advocate for our young Church, and hosts diocesan-wide events that allow our youth to experience the universal Church. CYM also trains the adults who work in youth ministry and partners with community organizations. CYM serves as a clearinghouse and a resource for another important ministry to youth in the diocese: Catholic Scouting.
Deaf Ministry focuses its efforts at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, providing interpreters for the 10:30 AM liturgy each Sunday. Interpreters also assist as deaf children participate in the religious education program. In addition, on the first Tuesday of the month, the Deaf community celebrates liturgy in sign language.
Campus Ministry is present on area college campuses to uphold, support, and serve the Catholic community, providing a “home away from home” to young adults struggling to grow in mind, body, and soul. CM brings into balance the struggle to be spiritual in a world filled with materialistic and anti-religious ideals.
Office for Religious Education is responsible for the formal catechetical programs for adults, children, and youth in the parishes and schools of the diocese. Catechesis is the essential ministry of the Church through which the teachings of Christ have been passed on to believers throughout the ages. The Religious Education programs provide an essential aspect of the Church’s mission to Go and Teach and to make disciples.
Pastoral Services
Office of Institutional Chaplains helps meet the spiritual needs of those in hospitals and prisons as well as those who work in civil service and law-enforcement occupations. Institutional chaplains are the hands and feet of Christ, bringing healing and strength to those they serve in special corners of the Diocese.
Ordained Deacons are called to three areas of service: the ministry of the Word, the ministry of liturgy, and the ministry of charity. Candidates engage in a formation process that extends for five years, beginning with a year of intensive spiritual discernment along with their wives. Deacons continue to support themselves in their secular occupations after ordination and generally serve without remuneration.
Hispanic Ministry assists parishes and diocesan offices in establishing and fostering the development of spiritual formation, community building, and social action programs for the diocese’s growing Hispanic population. Weekly masses are now regularly celebrated in Spanish in seventeen parishes and one migrant laborer site.
Office of Worship implements the vision of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. The office develops and deepens the liturgical life of the parishes and institutions of the Diocese through support, education and formation of liturgical ministers and other pastoral leaders, and through participation in national efforts.
Ministry for Black Catholics builds awareness of the rich and extensive history of Catholics of African descent, ensuring that those searching for a place of worship will feel welcome in the Catholic family. MBC sponsors the Wilmington Diocese Gospel Choir, a weekly radio show broadcast in New Castle and Kent counties, and events such as workshops for first-time home buyers.
Office for Religious maintains the bond between the bishop and the men and women religious who support the community through their ministry in health care, education, social services, and other fields. The office provides opportunities and resources for religious to share concerns as well as receive assistance and mutual support.
Catholic Charities
Behavioral Health Services provides counseling and substance abuse treatment for children and adults. This mission works to make quality mental health programs available, accessible, and affordable to those earning marginal wages and otherwise unable to secure these services.
Casa San Francisco in Milton, DE provides emergency shelter for homeless persons, financial assistance for those facing eviction and loss of basic services, food programs, and counseling services for low-income residents of Sussex County. Casa continues to plan for expansion of services and the construction of a new facility—limited bed space causes Casa San Francisco to turn away over 1,000 requests a year by homeless persons.
Catholic Thrift Store collaborates with over 40 community organizations to provide furniture, used clothing, appliances, household goods, and toys at low or no cost, which is even more critical as low and moderate income families struggle with escalating energy costs. The Thrift Store provided $168,649 worth of free goods last year. Donated food is available daily, free of charge.
Crisis Alleviation Program makes financial grants for basic living expenses, provides budget counseling, supplies information and referral services, and offers case coordination and advocacy on behalf of its clients. Increasingly, the program’s resources are helping to defray the spiraling energy costs of seniors on fixed incomes and employed individuals that often times live from paycheck to paycheck.
Family Life Bureau promotes healthy families through a variety of programs including marriage preparation, support groups for the widowed and divorced, domestic violence and anger management networks, and abortion counseling as well as the distribution of pro-life materials and programs.
Parish Social Ministry works with parishes throughout the Diocese to bring the social mission of the Church to life and to integrate it into the fabric of the parish. During the past year, 54 workshops were presented in parishes on Catholic Social Teaching and social justice topics. Ninety-nine percent of program participants indicated they increased their knowledge of the topics presented.
Aids Ministry is a multi-service program providing emotional, educational, material and emergency financial support to persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as the families of those infected by the virus. Services include emergency financial assistance, budget counseling, food programs, pastoral visitation and care, and scholarships for infected/affected youth through Camp Dreamcatcher.
Immigration and Refugee Resettlement Program, with offices in Wilmington and Salisbury, provides family-based services to immigrants throughout the Diocese. In FY 2006, the program served 332 immigration clients and 9 refugee resettlement clients.
Seton Center is a multi-purpose neighborhood community center located in a low-income area of Somerset County, Maryland. The center provides crisis alleviation assistance, children’s programs, community food programs, a thrift shop, and a variety of services to the Hispanic community. Escalating energy costs are driving the center to raise additional awareness and funds to increase direct assistance to needy clients.
Communications and Administration
Office of Public Relations and Media establishes and maintains positive relationships with the secular media. The office distributes news releases, oversees the diocesan website, and produces radio programs with the goal of advancing a greater understanding of the Church, Church teachings, diocesan and parish ministries and services, and the Bishop’s priorities.
The Dialog is the official newspaper of the Diocese, reporting local, national, and international church news as well as features about people who embody Gospel values. The weekly paper presents editorials and instructive opinions on matters of the faith and is the bishop’s chief form of communicating with and teaching the people of the diocese. The Dialog is distributed each week to more than 55,000 homes.
