Annual Catholic Appeal

My dear friends in Christ,

As members of our Diocesan Family, we are called upon to love and serve our brothers and sisters, in our community and beyond. Your contribution to the Annual Catholic Appeal allows our diocese to continue to serve as a resource to the parishes and other organizations. The Diocese of Trenton has set our parish goal at $70,000. The Annual Catholic Appeal is used for:

Walking With Those in Need: Catholic Social Services: Providing basic needs to the poor and marginalized; Mental Health Services: parish based counseling; Pastoral Care: ministry to those who are grieving or dealing with loss, prison ministry, parish nursing, Respect Life Ministry.

Supporting Parish and Family Life: Marriage Ministry: Bishop’s Anniversary Blessings; Youth and Young Adult Minstry: training ministers, resourcing parish youth programs, sponsoring diocesan events and experiences for youth to grow in faith, service and a sense of community.

Parish Needs: Returns 15% of the collected goal, and 50% of any overage is returned to parishes. I give this information because we have fallen behind in our support for this effort. We are currently at 37.8% which means improvement is needed. What is important to us is that if we hit our goal, we get 15% of $70,000 back. That amounts to $10,500 immediately coming back to us. I know it doesn't seem like much but it still pays a bill. And we have plenty of those to pay. If you did not fill out a pledge card (available in the Sacristy) or pledged in the past but have not done so this year, may I encourage you to give what you can to this cause. If every registered family gave $50 to the Annual Catholic Appeal, we would achieve our goal and get a return as well!

May God bless you all!

Father John