Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
April 24, 2002
Home Missions Appeal strengthens the Church at home
The word "mission" often conjures up images of far-away places, but a surprisingly large number of dioceses in the United States are home missions. According to the Bishops' Committee on Home Missions, some 40 percent of U.S. dioceses need serious financial assistance.
Next weekend, April 27-28, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal will be taken up in dioceses across the nation. Theme for this year's appeal is "Strengthening the Church at Home."
The appeal will assist 82 poor dioceses — including the Eastern Catholic eparchies — unable to provide the most basic pastoral ministries for their people without grants from the missions appeal. The funds will assist Catholics in places such as Appalachia, Alabama and Texas to support evangelization outreach, religious education, campus ministry, migrant ministry, seminary training, diaconate training, lay ministry training and ethnic ministries.
Consider the following facts about home missions:
•In the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., nine counties have no church building, 26 are without a resident priest, and 33 have no presence or ministry by sisters, brothers, or lay volunteers.
•The Diocese of Salt Lake City, Utah, comprises the entire state of Utah and serves some 100,000 Catholics out of a total population of 2.3 million people. The Church of Latter-Day Saints presents a significant challenge to the Catholic Church in this 85,000-square-mile state.
•A Vietnamese sister in the Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., ministers to eight different groups of Asian Pacific Islanders that reside in the diocese, including the Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Hmong, Guamenian, Samoan, and Tongan peoples.
•The fastest-growing population in the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, is prison inmates. Full-time chaplains and local pastors serve the approximately 5,000 incarcerated men and women in five county facilities, two private facilities and 11 state facilities.
•The Diocese of Gallup, N.M., comprises 55,000 square miles in northwest New Mexico and northeast Arizona. Nearly 70 percent of the state consists of reservations for seven tribes of Native American people. Half of the Catholic population is Navajo, Acoma, Laguna, Jicarilla Apache, White Mountain Apache, Zuni and Hopi.
•The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, serves military personnel and families at 220 installations in 29 countries; patients in 172 Veterans Administration hospitals; and is responsible for federal employees serving in 134 countries.
Since 1998 the appeal has helped Catholics in such situations to practice their faith.
The appeal also assists dioceses in Alaska and the Pacific and Caribbean territories: Some Eskimo settlements along the Alaskan coast see a priest once a month, weather permitting. The Diocese of Caroline Islands serves parish communities on coral atolls scattered across a million square miles of open ocean. And the people of Puerto Rico face constant proselytizing by fundamentalist groups actively hostile to the Church.
Home missions are wherever Catholics are few and the Church is fragile. Appeal support is deeply appreciated by those whom it benefits.
"The Committee on Home Missions is part of our life's blood," said Anchorage, Alaska, Archbishop Francis T. Hurley. "Without your support our ministry would be more difficult. Your assistance allows us to provide programs and conduct services in the most far-reaching areas of our archdiocese."
The appeal strengthens and extends the presence of the Church in the U.S. and its island territories. Principal beneficiaries are home mission dioceses. The appeal is a wonderful opportunity for Catholics to help their needy brothers and sisters at home.
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