|
Your help
is needed
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Great news! Come this fall, we anticipate having 20 men in the seminary,
the highest number in more than 15 years. This means that in
August/September, six men (perhaps there will be more) will join those
already in formation. To understand how great this news is, one has only
to recall that six years ago we had just three seminarians.
Numbers are increasing. That’s the good news. The expense of preparing
these men for the priesthood and the operation of our Vocation Office is
the other side of the coin. One of the men to be ordained this June
recently calculated it has cost the Church $191,000 to prepare him for
the priesthood. Formation for the priesthood does not come cheaply.
The expense for the education of seminarians traditionally has been paid
out of a seminary fund accumulated through bequests and donations since
the foundation of the diocese in 1945. Insufficient in itself, in recent
years, the shortfall has been subsidized by Fruitful Harvest
contributions. Now, both of these together no longer defray the costs
involved. To narrow the deficit, last year there was a special pulpit
appeal. It raised $234,890. Grateful to those who contributed, the
deficit was narrowed, but not eliminated. The Diocesan Finance Council
has urged a second special appeal this year. In fidelity to that
recommendation, you are once again asked to support a special pulpit
appeal the weekends of June 3-4 with followup on June 10-11. A per
household donation of $20 would erase the deficit and put us on good
footing. However, it is a given that not every family will participate.
Major gifts then are needed. The cost of operating a Vocation Office and
the education of seminarians has increased tenfold since 1998. It is
anticipated that those expenses will continue to escalate. A successful
appeal will help immensely in meeting these expenses.
Robert H. Quinn, diocesan finance officer, has presented the Finance
Council and the Presbyteral Council with data showing that interest from
the Diocesan Seminary Fund and gifts to that fund since 1986 have paid
less than half the actual cost of educating men for the priesthood. This
shortfall, and the expense of the Vocation Office, could continue to be
added to Fruitful Harvest, but the diocesan goal already has been
increased 26.8 percent over the past two campaigns. A goal increase
needed to cover these increases would be prohibitive to parishes. A
pulpit appeal is perceived to be the better avenue to travel.
How could the Diocesan Finance Council allow us to slip into the current
shortfall situation? It’s a legitimate question.
The answer is twofold. Fruitful Harvest is the primary source of income
for the Bishop’s Office. Every effort is made to keep the diocesan
Fruitful Harvest goal in line with inflation. However, costs constantly
escalate, including the cost of operating a Vocation Office. Health
insurance alone keeps increasing at alarming rates. This, and the
unexpected, is a reality the Finance Council struggles to anticipate.
The diocese is solvent, but operates on a break-even budget. More basic
to the challenge, however, is constant uncertainty about the number of
men who will enter the seminary in any given year. Because Fruitful
Harvest is a biennial campaign, budgeting must be anticipated in
24-month cycles. As recently as the first of this year, it appeared just
two men might enter the seminary this coming fall. That number is now up
to six. It is a fluctuating market, one might say, dependent upon the
grace of God and the openness of men to respond affirmatively to God’s
call.
Here are bullets that illustrate the need for a special pulpit appeal:
• The number of projected seminarians for this fall is 20. This total
takes into account the two men being ordained to the priesthood June 3,
plus the six who are expected to enter the seminary for the first time
this fall.
• The total annual cost for educating five seminarians in 1998 was
$66,636. In 2006, the total is anticipated to be $740,000.
• Since 1986, investment income from a quasi-endowment seminary fund has
totaled $1.68 million. Those funds were expended as received. Expended,
too, was $172,440 in funds donated for the education of seminarians.
• Current value of the seminary fund is $1.1 million. This amount has
remained constant since 1986.
• Since 1986, expenses (including 2006) for seminarian education and
vocation recruitment have totaled $4.32 million. Fruitful Harvest has
provided $2.18 million of that figure. In 2005, our first pulpit appeal
for seminarian education resulted in a collection of $234,890. The
bottom line deficit covered by Fruitful Harvest was $268,539 in 2005,
down from $365,000 in 2004.
• Please note that each seminarian is responsible for his own college
education expenses. The diocese assumes the financial responsibility
when a man enters theological formation. The average annual per
seminarian cost is $33,000; this includes tuition, room and board, and
other items such as summer stipends, health insurance, books and travel
expenses for diocesan events.
I ask you to be generous to this appeal. The target is a minimum of
$350,000. There will be envelopes for this pulpit appeal provided
through your parish. There also is an envelope in The Catholic Moment
this week. Please place your gift, clearly identified, in your parish
offertory collection during Mass. If you wish to discuss a significant
gift, please contact the Pastoral Office for Stewardship and Development
at 765-742-7000 or 800-617-7466 and speak with Pamelia Storms-Barrett,
the director. Some may wish to endow the education of a seminarian or
the Vocation Office.
The Catholic Moment will be featuring messages from our
seminarians. Each will have a personal message for you. I invite you to
consider their words. Whatever gift you choose to make, thank you for
supporting the men studying for the priesthood for our Local Church.
Please continue to pray that many more men will say “yes” to God’s call
to discern whether it is his plan for them to be priests here in
Northcentral Indiana. |
