Partners in Charity beneficiaries are gifts themselves, the way Bishop McManus tells it.
He was highlighting “one poignant experience” he had with the African community in a brief talk at the annual appeal’s kick-off Monday in the Chancery.
A DVD featuring the African community as one of the ministries supported by
Partners in Charity had just been shown to kick-off attendees, who came to pick up their parishes’ Partners materials.
Bishop McManus said that about a dozen years ago the membership at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Worcester was dwindling, and he made the parish a mission of St. Peter Parish.
Recently Africans, many of whom now worship there, invited him to celebrate Mass for them.
“I could barely get my car in the parking lot,” the bishop marveled. “The church was jammed. … The liturgy was fantastic. … very well prepared.” And lengthy. The hall was set up, and he was told, “They’re throwing this banquet for you.”
“I was so moved by the dynamism of that community,” Bishop McManus said. He spoke of new immigrants enlivening the diocese. His letter about this year’s appeal is available in seven languages.
As of Wednesday morning, this year’s campaign had received 1,422 gifts, totaling $730,786, according to Michael P. Gillespie, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development which coordinates the appeal. The goal is $5 million, like last year.
The theme this year is “Faith in Action – Loving God by Serving Others.” Its patroness, Servant of God Dorothy Day, is quoted as saying that she didn’t know how to love God, except by loving the poor, or how to serve God, expect by serving the poor.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980) had a dramatic conversion to the Catholic faith in 1927 while gaining fame as a social activist, said Mr. Gillespie. She founded the Catholic Worker movement, which has numerous houses of hospitality, including the SS. Francis and Therese House in Worcester.
A Partners in Charity prayer asks that God grant favors through her intercession so her holiness “may be more widely recognized and one day the Church may proclaim her a saint.”
In a Partners’ flier, Bishop McManus recalls Pope Francis raising up Dorothy Day as an exemplary American Catholic when he visited the United States in 2015.
Dorothy Day was also featured in the
Partners in Charity DVD that Raymond L. Delisle and Stephen Kaufman, of the diocesan Communications Ministry, produced this year. The DVD is online and is to be shown in parishes and other places.
The bishop seemed moved by the story of a Catholic Charities client featured on the DVD. A woman talked about putting her pride aside to seek help for her family, which didn’t qualify for welfare.
“Thank you for helping us even though you don’t know us,” the woman said.
Mr. Gillespie expressed thanks to God and the people who supported the 2017 appeal, to which 17,248 households gave $5,125,527. Donations helped support 29 agencies and ministries in the fiscal year beginning Sept. 1, 2017, according to Partners materials.
Parish goals will not increase in 2018. Appeal material said that the sum of the goals does not reach the $5 million overall goal; the development office will be responsible for raising $120,000 from donors whose gifts are not credited to a parish.
Appeal material also highlighted the support of members of various Circles of Giving. Members of each of the societies and circles give leadership gifts in these amounts: Holy Family, $7,500 or more; St. Paul, $5,000-$7,499; St. John Paul, $2,500-$4,999; St. John XXIII, $1,500-$2,499; St. Francis of Assisi, $1,000-$1,499; St. John Vianney (priests only), $1,000 or more; St. Teresa of Kolkata, $500-$999; Dorothy Day, Servant of God, $300-$499.
Partners in Charity benefits the following charitable, educational and ministerial agencies and offices:
Clergy Retirement,
Retired Priests Health Ministry, Catholic Charities, Haitian Apostolate, McAuley Nazareth Home, Pernet Family Health Service, Seminarian Health Insurance, St. John Diocesan Cemetery System, Diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, Catholic Campus Ministry, Catholic Schools Office, Office of Religious Education, Ongoing Priestly Formation, Catholic School Grants-in-Aid, Seminarian Education, Advanced Studies for Clergy and Laity, Communications/TV Ministry and Chancellor’s Office, Pastoral Planning, African Ministry, Hispanic Ministry, Office of Marriage and Family, Minister to Priests, Office of the Diaconate, New Evangelization Worcester for Youth and Young Adults, Respect Life Office, St. Paul Cathedral, Office for Vocations, Office for Divine Worship.