For more than 20 years, the Annual Pastoral Appeal (APA), had supported all parts of our diocesan budget: administrative, business, leadership as well as ministry, programs and outreach. Last year, Bishop Parkes, diocesan leadership and a task force of experienced pastors studied how our parishes work together to support our local Church. They listened to feedback from pastors, parish staff and lay leaders from across the Diocese.

After much prayer, consultation and review, the task force voted unanimously to retire APA, and start over, separating how different areas would be funded. It lessens the financial burden on parishes, allows 100% of donor contributions to go toward the ministries listed below, instead of administration costs, increases accountability and reduces confusion. We will continue to provide full transparency.

Their innovative plan calls for:

• the leadership of our local Church to be supported by parishes at a drastically reduced rate (from 18-19% to only 2%);
• the administrative functions such as accounting and human resources to be funded through interest earnings on a responsibly invested trust;
• and finally, the new plan invites our parishioners to participate in the new Catholic Ministry Appeal each year to fund what most consider to the traditional ministries and programs of our diocese.

To begin the process of transition from APA to a new Catholic Ministry Appeal, we asked those families that have faithfully supported APA to assist us in designing a new logo, to find out which of the ministries they would like to learn more about, and why they feel it’s important to support these larger diocesan ministries. More than 3,300 responded to the survey! Their input was greatly appreciated, and assisted us in creating a look, feel and focus for our ministry messaging. Click here to see the results of our survey.

We are now ready to launch. Our historical donors to APA have received a “first look” at our new materials crafted from their input in the survey. On December 31, 2021, the name “Annual Pastoral Appeal” or “APA” will be retired. And in January 2022, we will publicly roll-out a new appeal called the “Catholic Ministry Appeal” with a more focused case for support that does not include leadership or administrative expenses. Click here to see the ministries, programs and services included in our new Catholic Ministry Appeal.