The ACA: why your generosity matters

What a man really believes proves itself not in his words, but in his actions.  We all instinctively know this.  For example, a father can claim that he loves his children.  Most fathers do.  But if a man rarely spends time with his children; doesn’t listen to their hopes and problems; doesn’t suffer with them when they suffer; doesn’t work to form their character in the virtues; and doesn’t sacrifice for them financially—then his good words, no matter how well intended, mean very little. 

Relationships always have consequences.  They come not just with rights, but also with obligations; and that simple fact applies to our relationships within the family, with other people, with God and with the Church.

To use another example:  anyone baptized a Catholic can, in some basic sense, claim to be Catholic.  Baptism is forever; it can’t be undone.  It delivers us from original sin and incorporates us into the life of Jesus Christ and his people.  But baptism is also a mandate.  It commissions us to join in the task of sanctifying the world.  In other words, our baptism is a beginning, not an end.  It should bear fruit in a certain kind of life marked by certain kinds of behavior.  If it doesn’t, we’re fooling ourselves—and others—about what the word “Catholic” really means, and what it requires in the way we live.

One important duty that goes with baptism is regular Sunday worship of God at Mass.  Another is daily personal prayer.  Another is studying the Gospel and faithful Catholic teaching.  And another is generosity to others.  That includes generosity to the believing community.  Each of us, whether we’re laypeople or clergy, has a serious responsibility to support the work of the Church.  The reason is simple.  Without adequate material resources, the Church’s preaching, teaching and outreach to the suffering and poor are crippled, and by extension, our own Christian vocation weakens. 

The first priority in our charitable giving should always be our local parish.  That’s where most of us deepen our Catholic faith and encounter Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  But the Church is also much larger than any local parish, and the Catholic Church in northern Colorado—the Archdiocese of Denver, covering the northern 40 percent of our state and serving more than 500,000 Catholics—has pressing financial needs as well.  The archdiocese has the task of doing those things no local parish can fully achieve on its own: the formation of priests, deacons and catechists; help for the disabled, homeless, immigrants and the poor; Catholic education for children and adults; support for women with unplanned pregnancies; and dozens of other vital services and programs.

The annual Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal (ACA) is the lifeblood of these ministries and a main source of funding for the work of the Catholic community at the archdiocesan level.  It’s vitally important to the effectiveness of Catholic witness in Colorado, and next to our obligations to our local parish, the ACA is the single most fruitful way any Catholic can use his or her finances to advance the Gospel and the work of the Church.

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday rooted in the deeply Christian origins of our country.  As we thank God for our lives, our freedoms and our sustenance, let’s remember the invitation God gave to us at our baptism: an invitation to help him remake and renew the world in Christ’s name.  That work of the Gospel won’t happen in a vacuum, and it can’t happen without the resources to pursue it. 

As we close the old Church year and begin a new one with the Advent and Christmas seasons, please don’t forget the needs of the Church.  Remember the ACA in your giving, and please be as generous as you can.  Good people depend urgently on the services the ACA makes possible.  Let’s prove our vocation as Catholics by our actions.