Partners passes $1M

By Raymond L. Delisle
Director, Communications Ministry

Over one million dollars. $1,150,602 to be exact. That’s the amount that has been raised as of Jan. 27 for the 2021 Annual Partners in Charity Appeal. The goal is $5 million.
So what makes that unique from other years?
“We are months ahead of our usual timetable,” according to Michael P. Gillespie director of stewardship and development for the Diocese of Worcester. “This incredible generosity is the result of a great response to a request for early gifts for this appeal, made at the end of 2020, and beginning the appeal in January in a number of parishes.”
A total of 2,802 gifts have been made to the 2021 appeal, Mr. Gillespie said.
“The letter from the diocese that suggested a year-end gift gave our parish a jumpstart for this year’s Partners in Charity appeal,” said Barbara Murphy at St. Matthew Parish in Southborough. “Our parishioners are willing to respond now in order to get to our goal early compared to those years when the diocese is asking for support until the end of the summer.”
Appeals are beginning much earlier, in fact. Partners in Charity banners are beginning to appear at parishes around the diocese – well, some of them.
Forty–two parishes are beginning their annual Partners in Charity Appeal prior to Lent this year, according to Mr. Gillespie. “These parishes will be the last block of parishes conducting the Legacy of Hope capital campaign during the spring,” he noted. “We wanted to work with them on conducting this appeal early so that the two efforts don’t overlap.” To date, those parishes have already raised $622,567 for Partners from 1,767 gifts, Mr. Gillespie said.
“It’s gratifying to see that our parish is already doing well with Partners,” said Father William C. Konicki, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Hopedale. “With assistance from the Development Office, letters went out to our parishioners at the beginning of January and parishioners are already donating. In years past I have stressed how important it is to support diocesan agencies – having had 15 years of experience in one – and so they understand the importance of this appeal to the life of the Church.”
Father Konicki noted that the parish keeps in touch with parishioners regularly with Flocknote and “many members with health issues watch the parish Masses right from home because they are livestreamed. We will be able to share the (Partners in Charity) video in an upcoming Flocknote (email) as well as at Mass on Livestream so that the messages of the appeal are reinforced,” he added.
In the 2021 appeal video Bishop McManus points out that “unlike the Legacy of Hope capital campaign, which will endow parishes and specific causes for future years, Partners in Charity is an annual lifeline for the more than two dozen agencies and ministries which every day extend beyond the reach of our parish ministries. Together we are feeding the hungry, forming young people for life, and accompanying young men on their vocational journey to the priesthood, just to name a few.”
Asked about whether the ongoing pandemic will affect reaching goal, Mr. Gillespie remains optimistic.
“I think we learned some valuable lessons from last year,” he noted. “Just as the campaign was preparing to launch in 2020 everything, including our churches, were shut down and no one could go to Mass. Naturally, all of our focus at the time was on how we could get back to Mass in person.”
The annual appeal took a hit as a result.
“The cornerstone of our appeal for years has been an in-pew process with live presentations and materials handed out at Mass. With only 25–30% of people coming to Mass in person from June to August we lost a lot of momentum,” Mr. Gillespie said.
In the end, the 2020 appeal raised $4,379,895 or 88% of goal. Bishop McManus was extremely grateful for the generosity of 12,541 donors who made a pledge or gift, given the ongoing pandemic.
“Our sense of hope as Catholics means we put our trust in God to respond to our needs,” the bishop told The Catholic Free Press on Sept. 11.
“We are very impressed with the response we are already seeing in our parish,” said Linda Barrows at St. Edward the Confessor Parish in Westminster. “We always relied on an in-pew solicitation in the past, so this is the first time we have used direct mail. Our pastor, Father Juan (Herrera), shares his excitement about wanting us to make goal early, and is encouraging people at Mass. We’re also preparing to use Flocknote to follow-up with parishioners who cannot come to church right now.”
In the final weeks of the 2020 appeal, nearly $600,000 came in from direct requests to households using Flocknote emails and the U.S. Postal Service.
“Our office and our parishes learned from that incredible response,” Mr. Gillespie said. “In September we immediately began to modify how the 2021 appeal would be conducted as a result.”
“Doing anything new or differently can be confusing to many of our older parishioners,” said Kathy Hannon of Sacred Heart-St. Catherine of Sweden Parish in Worcester. “Our parishioners have responded well to the early start of our appeal but some have called me up confused about why we had to do it now, or are checking to make sure the letter was legitimate.”
“In the end parishioners will respond because they know how Partners in Charity agencies benefit so many people in various ways, especially now during this pandemic,” she said.