Saint Joseph Parish - Bishop's Appeal

2010 Bishop’s Appeal

Did you Know? The Bishop’s Appeal funds are distributed across a number of ministries and programs to the benefit of those in need throughout northeastern Wisconsin.

This communiqué will provide some insights as to where, to whom and how your generosity supports the various diocesan programs and ministries. To understand how the funds from the Bishop’s Appeal are distributed see the table to the right. Each topic below has a very brief sample of the ministry and the role it plays in helping the people of northeastern Wisconsin.

What is Catholic Charities? Catholic Charities provides outreach services to over 41,000 people throughout northeastern Wisconsin. With offices in five communities, Catholic Charities is able to be there for people in need. Here are four of the many difference-making programs:

Individual and Family Counseling Services includes mental health counseling for families, couples and children.
Family Strengthening Services provides care to the Refugee and Immigration communities throughout northeastern Wisconsin.
Adoption and Pregnancy Counseling provides support to birth parents, adoptive couples and people with unplanned pregnancies.
Budget Counseling offers tools and guidance to help people learn responsible financial management.

Catholic Charities uses a sliding fee scale, so they are able to serve people who are most in need.

Did you know? In our Diocese 71% of registered Catholics do not attend Mass regularly. There is a great need to evangelize these unseen parishioners. We need to invite them to worship at Mass, hear the Word of God and receive our precious Savior in the Eucharist.

What is the Evangelization and Worship Department? One of the newer departments in the Diocese is Evangelization and Worship which helps people share their experiences of God with one another.

Bishop’s Appeal 2009 Allocations
Education Stewardship & Pastoral Services Catholic Charities Ministry Formation Evangelization & Worship Bishop’s Appeal The Compass The Marriage Tribunal	21% 18% 17% 16% 15% 8% 4% 1%

You may already be aware of the ministries supported. These ministries including: Family and Marriage Preparation, Retreat Operations, Liturgical Year Planning, Liturgy of Music, and Young Adult Programs. Evangelization and Worship also supports our college students through campus ministry at UW-Green Bay and UW-Oshkosh, and as well as scouting programs. The Family Life and Marriage Preparation Ministry includes workshops for those entering into marriage or strengthening their marriage and family. Evangelization also supports Respect Life Activities.

What is the Stewardship and Pastoral Services Department? Stewardship and Pastoral Services assists parishes in nurturing programs that help make parish communities more vibrant. A key focus in this area is to educate and encourage people to embrace living their lives in a stewardship kind of way. Other examples of ministries of Stewardship and Pastoral Services include: support for persons with disabilities, ministry for deaf Catholics, retreats for the cognitively disabled, support of the diocesan mission in the Dominican Republic and natural family planning. Stewardship and Pastoral Services works with parish councils, social concern committees, long-term strategic parish planning and Hispanic outreach.

What is The Compass Newspaper? This is an important adult education tool for Catholic who are interested in learning about the news and views of the Diocese. This award-winning weekly print communication reaches out to thousands of people every week. Four percent of the collected funds support this publication and its distribution throughout northeastern Wisconsin.

What is the Marriage Tribunal? The Bishop’s Appeal also supports the work of the Marriage Tribunal. The Tribunal works primarily with people seeking an annulment through the Church legal processes.

What is the Minister Formation Department? Minister Services develop and implement programs that emphasize lay and religious leadership development and training. Some examples include the Commission Ministry Leadership Formation Program which commissions people for service in the areas of Pastoral ministry (Pastoral associate, Liturgical Minister), Educational ministry (Director of Religious Education, Principals). The Minister Formation area contains the Diaconate program which provides formation to men interested in becoming deacons. This program also supports the continuing formation of over 100 deacons in our Diocese.

In 2003 an enhanced program called “Protecting God’s Children” began. This program’s goal is to help end sexual abuse and involves an extensive on-going education and training program, called VIRTUS. To date, over 17,000 priests, parish, Catholic school and Diocesan staff as well as volunteers have been trained in VIRTUS and have had legal background checks run on them.

What does the Education Department do? The Education department supports religious education programs in parishes and school. The area provides training and resources for programs that bring our Catholic faith to people of all ages. The Education department is focused on four strategies:

helping parishes with adult education programs,
quality religious education,
working with our 90 Catholic schools to share best practices,
establishing a good religious curriculum in our Catholic Schools.

How much does the Bishop’s Appeal cost? Last year eight percent of funds collected went toward managing the Bishop’s Appeal program within the Catholic Foundation. This supports the office staff responsible for developing, producing and distributing the various Bishop’s Appeal communications and other types of print and video media materials.

Please prayerfully consider reaching out this year by making a generous gift to the Bishop’s Appeal. Thank you for your support of the Appeal!

For more information on the Bishop’s Appeal,
please call Josh Diedrich, Director of the Bishop’s Appeal, toll-free at 877-500-3580, ext. 8197.