Pastor’s Desk 3.19.23

…from your Pastor’s Desk

Annual Ministry Appeal
&
Bankruptcy Q and A

I know some of you are waiting to commit your AMA offering until you hear whether these funds can be accessed for any legal settlements. Short answer – NO, they cannot.

The funds raised by the Annual Ministry Appeal are received and held in trust for Ministries that are Super – Parochial, in other words, bigger than a parish. For instance, there is a Restorative Justice Ministry for those who are incarcerated; a Marriage Tribunal for those seeking clarity on a previous marriage; a Department of Religion Education for the education of our youth in the faith. Other recipient Ministries are: Child and Youth Protection, Communications, Latino Ministry, Seminarians and Vocations, Clergy Formation, Family Life, Newman Centers, Youth and Young Adult Ministries, Catholic Schools, Stewardship, and The Marian Sisters.

No individual Parish could do these Ministries on its own. The Annual Ministry Appeal collects funds for all the designated Ministries and these funds are distributed to each in proportion to each Ministry’s total expense. The Diocese cannot legitimately use this money for any other unnamed purpose.

So, where do we stand as far as our contribution goes. Our goal this year is $33,268. We have over 500 active households and to date 76 have contributed and, yes, any monies raised over our goal come back 100% to our parish. Envelopes will be made available at all the masses this weekend. I believe we can achieve our goal as we have every year since I’ve been here. Thank you for your generosity.

As I mentioned last week – next weekend after each mass, I will present a Q and A regarding the Santa Rosa Diocese Bankruptcy and Chapter 11 filing. Hopefully, by then. we will have more clarity.

Father Ron