Catholic Home Missions Appeal Supports Pastoral Services, Seminarian Formation and Evangelization in U.S. Dioceses

WASHINGTON—TheCatholic Home Missions Appeal, which will be taken up in many U.S. parishes theweekend of April 28-April 29, supports home mission dioceses, which aredioceses in the United States and its dependencies that need outside help tooffer basic pastoral services. The Appeal, sponsored by the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops (USCCB), strengthens the church at home by bridging the gapbetween need and available resources in those dioceses.

Manydioceses are blessed with vocations to the priesthood, but the cost to educateone seminarian in a home mission diocese is roughly $30,000. In an averagegrant cycle, 18-20 percent of funds collected for the Catholic Home MissionsAppeal go toward seminarian education. In 2011, the Appeal enabled the home missiondiocese of Biloxi, Mississippi, to support 100 percent of the expenses ofeducating 12 seminarians.

"Thereis a serious need for priestly formation in mission dioceses throughout theUnited States in order to build vibrant parish communities," said BishopMichael W. Warfel of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, and chairman of the USCCBSubcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. "Often home mission priests requirespecial training to attend to the unique needsof their faith communities. Thesupport of Catholics throughout the United States is necessary for the successof these and other projects."

Aunique need in the Biloxi community, where Catholics make up one-quarter of thehearing impaired individuals in the region, is training sign language practitioners.Without the appeal, the desperate need for sign language practitioners cannotbe met.

"Thegrants we receive from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal help us ensure thatthe future of these parishes are in the hands of adequately prepared priests whocan meet the needs of the residents here. While we have faced many challengesin recent years, this Appeal restores our hope that the future will be brighterand our parishioners will continue to be served," said Bishop Roger P. Morin ofBiloxi.

TheSubcommittee on Catholic Home Missions oversees the Catholic Home MissionsAppeal as part of the USCCB Committee on National Collections. Thisyear the Subcommittee is providing $8.3 million in funding to 84 home missiondiocese in the United States. The Catholic Home Missions Appeal funds essential pastoral projects such ascatechesis, cultural ministry and lay leadership training and helps keepmission parishes open. Visit www.usccb.org and search "home missions" for more information.

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Keywords: Catholic Home Missions Appeal,cultural ministry, catechesis, Bishop Michael W. Warfel, Bishop Roger P. Morin,U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, USCCB

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