Catholic Home Missions Appeal Strengthens the Church at Home by Supporting Vital Ministries in Over 75 U.S. Dioceses

WASHINGTON - “There are places where ministry is marked by the deep commitment of parishioners and the clergy who serve them, who often travel many miles through mountains, deserts, or arctic terrain to attend Mass and serve each other and their communities,” said Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City. Referring to dioceses in the United States that are unable to offer their people the basic pastoral ministries of word, worship, and service without outside help, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal assists these financially challenged dioceses and eparchies with operational costs, pastoral projects, and provides support to parish life and diocesan vocations work.

As the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, Bishop McKnight said, “The faithful who live in the mission dioceses give sacrificially to support their parishes and essential ministries, despite their own limited means. I am grateful to them for their prayerful sacrifices, and I am also deeply appreciative to the faithful in other dioceses across the country who give to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal to help the Church maintain its presence and minister to their neighbors.”

On the weekend of April 27-28, Catholics from dioceses across the United States are invited to empower ministry within home mission territory by giving to the U.S. bishops’ annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Some dioceses have a different date for the collection, but #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the appeal.

This collection supports dioceses and eparchies in the United States and its territories where Catholics are too few or too materially impoverished to support local ministry without outside help. In some cases, this need becomes even greater due to natural disasters or economic hardships caused by unemployment.

Gifts to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal provided more than $9.8 million in grants for 2023. These grants supported dioceses with limited staffing by subsidizing vocations work, seminary education, faith formation, evangelization, youth and young adult ministry, family and pro-life ministries and a wide variety of outreach among diverse ethnic or immigrant groups.

A few of the grants included:

• A mentor-driven approach to faith formation in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, where diocesan renewal initiatives are producing growth, evidenced through a rise in Mass attendance.
• A priestly vocations outreach in the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, that, after two years without ordinations, in 2023 yielded the largest ordination class in decades.
• A prison ministry program in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, that one diocesan leader wrote is helping to “heal these men from their past failures and give them hope for the future.”
• An annual evangelization congress in the Diocese of Stockton, California, organized by Hispanic/Latino young adults who are leading their peers to Christ.
• Participation of Catholics the Diocese of Salt Lake City at World Youth Day and local Eucharistic Revival activities.

“Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit who transforms hearts, leads people to Christ, and inspires them to greater virtue. Yet the Spirit uses your financial gifts to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal to help bring this about,” Bishop McKnight said. “When you give, no matter how large or small the amount, you are an instrument in the hands of God, bringing faith, hope and love to your neighbors.”

For more information, visit: www.usccb.org/home-missions.

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