Join Celebrate Priesthood! virtually, Oct. 26

How do you celebrate virtually? That’s the challenge the Diocese of Worcester is facing this year in organizing the 7th Annual Celebrate Priesthood! – Taste of the Diocese event during the pandemic. The chosen date is Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. and the event will be livestreamed.
 “When we began discussions about how to increase support for our retired priests about seven years ago, we recognized that the first objective was to invite parishioners to reflect on the gift of priesthood to every Catholic,” Bishop McManus said. “While fundraising for retirement care is a practical reality, celebrating the gift of priesthood was key to its success.”
 This annual fundraiser in support of retired priests care has raised about $970,000 since it held its first event at Mechanics Hall in 2014. Those proceeds helped reduce the annual deficits in the retired priests fund that often exceeded $500,000 in a single year, according the Office of Fiscal Affairs.
 Planning for this year focused on three objectives, according to Michael P. Gillespie, director of stewardship and development. 
“We needed to design an online event to interview priests about their vocation; involve local restaurants to invite donors to ‘taste’ the food at individual establishments rather than at one gala; and produce a commemorative fund-raising program book to raise needed funds and recognize many of our priests, including those who died since the last event,” Mr. Gillespie said.
 “Each year the tasting event has grown at the St. Vincent Hospital Atrium,” Mr. Gillespie said. “People were so excited to see priests who they had not seen in years, and to share great memories, while tasting a wide variety of delicious food and beverages. It has always been a great celebration.”
 The development office began reaching out to restaurants in late summer and the restaurants have begun to respond with coupon offers which are to be mailed to any donor of $100 or more to the cause.
“We are getting entrée specials, appetizer offers and other ideas that are being planned,” Mr. Gillespie said.
 The program book is also off to a good start. Letters to past sponsors and advertisers were sent recently and already a fair number of advertisers are returning this year, according to the development office. As of Tuesday, Sept. 29, more than $45,000 in ads and sponsorships have been received.
Donors from past years have also been invited to support the cause again and will also be invited through parish bulletins and parish emails over the coming weeks.
 The unique aspect this year will be a livestreamed event, which will be produced by the diocesan TV Ministry and available for viewing online at worcesterdiocese.org on Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. The producers anticipate it will run between 30 and 45 minutes and will feature brief interviews with a number of priests, some retired and some still very active in ministry, a reflection about the gift of the priesthood by Bishop McManus, and a memorial tribute to those who have died since last October, when the event was held. There will be an opportunity to share thoughts and memories on diocesan social media as well, and many of those tributes will be read during the evening.
 Although not designed as a telethon, viewers will also be able to call in a donation to a phone number that will be on the screen, or to login to the Celebrate Priesthood webpage to make a secure online donation.
 “While I am grateful for every donation that comes in for retired priests care, this is about something more dear to me,” said Bishop McManus. “Whether people can afford a donation or not is secondary. I invite every Catholic to use this opportunity to stop and think about how important their faith is to them, and how their lives are changed because there are priests who have answered a call to offer the grace of the sacraments to them at every stage of life, from baptisms to funerals.”
 “It is humbling when you realize that our 55 retired priests have committed more than 2,000 years of service to the faithful in our diocese. That is astounding,” the bishop said.
 He added, “It’s also an important invitation to our priests as well. They, too, need a gentle reminder to stop and reflect on the difference they make in people’s lives because they have made the love of Christ manifest in a particular way.”
 “We are learning how to live in virtual community with this pandemic,” the bishop reflected, “but we cannot let the pandemic stop us from cherishing the gift of God’s love in our lives and how the priesthood makes that love tangible. For that we can always give thanks and celebrate.”

Memorial tributes are being gathered at: facebook.com/celebratepriesthood.