19 October 2025

19 October 2025 - 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

I want to start by telling you what happened as a result of the Archbishop’s annual appeal from last year:

1.              three new priests

2.              twenty-two seminarians discerning the priesthood

3.              twenty-four deacons in formation

4.              forty-two families of parishes with dedicated evangelization coordinators (we are one of those)

5.              fourteen Totus Tuus missionaries (we use some of them every summer here)

6.              over two thousand one hundred Totus Tuus campers (some of those were our children)

7.              five thousand six hundred and fourteen individuals who were safe environment certified last year (we have a trainer here at Midtown)

8.              eight hundred visits to those in prison

9.              one hundred and twenty Hispanic families assisted in attending Catholic schools

10.                       ten thousand weekly viewers of Mass for Shut-ins

11.                       three hundred and twenty-five thousand individuals who received food from Catholic Charities pantries

12.                       three hundred and fifty-one Lectors and Communion Ministers were prepared to help it Masses (we have some of those)

13.                       thirty-nine Mentorship Program graduates

14.                       over twenty-five thousand children who were trained in the Circle of Grace Program – a program designed to keep our children safe (we use this program here)

These are some of the things that the annual appeal helps us to do around the archdiocese. As you can see, some of it has been effective here. We have benefited greatly from the generosity of people not only in our parishes but throughout the archdiocese.

Well, it is time to make some decisions for the next year. I am committing seventy-five dollars every month in the name of each parish. That means I am committing nine hundred dollars toward each parish’s goal. Will you please join me in making some kind of a commitment to the annual appeal?

The archdiocesan wide goal for this year’s Annual Appeal is five million dollars. The goals for our parishes are: St. John of Arc – forty-three thousand one hundred twenty-two dollars; St. Thomas More – sixty-two thousand one hundred seventy-five. The participation goal is hoped to be at least at 30% for each parish.

But this is not the only push that the archdiocese is trying to make this year. It is not just about raising the five million across the archdiocese, but about everyone participating in a renewal of understanding of what it means to be stewards of God’s great gifts.

I have not asked for parish leaders to help with the Annual Appeal. I am trusting that when you receive the letter from the archdiocese you will take enough initiative on your own to each be a leader for the parish.

Overall, last year the archdiocese only had 20% participation, if I read the web site correctly. Saint Joan of Arc had 31% participation; St. Thomas More 29% participation. So the numbers of people willing to participate – either by donation or by a commitment to prayer for the archdiocese – was higher in our parishes than the average in the archdiocese.

However, we did not come anywhere near to the goals from last year. Neither parish contributed above nine thousand dollars. The goals for this year are the same as last year. But can we do better than that?

It sure seems to me that we ought to be able to do MUCH better than that. St. Joan of Arc made it to twenty % of goal financially and thirty-one % participation. St. Thomas More made it to thirteen % of goal financially and twenty-nine % participation. Twenty % and thirteen % – I don’t think that is much to be proud of, do you?

Please look for information in the mail in the very near future regarding your commitment to the archdiocese and the annual appeal. It is not only about money, but it is also about our willingness to work for the Kingdom of God. Parish Stewardship Renewal is something that Archbishop McGovern is pressing for in our time. Can we make a better impression on our new Archbishop than what happened last year? I leave it to all of you!

Reflect:   

Now a little bit about our readings for this weekend. 

The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
 he is beside you at your right hand.
 The LORD will guard you from all evil;
 he will guard your life.
 The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
 both now and forever.

These verses are from our Responsorial Psalm. They are full of the promise of the presence of God. Now, some may ask: where was His guarding hand when Charlie Kirk was assassinated; where was His guarding hand when I was so sick; where was His guarding hand when the love of my life died? Why didn’t He stop all those evils?

The first and most important answer to those questions is another question: why didn’t He stop Jesus from dying on the cross? The reality is: all of these questions are connected. Whether it is personal sickness or personal tragedy, God came to face the cross that we might have His example to follow.

Apply:   

I understand that it is hard to try to reason things through when they are not going the way they should, as far as we see. At times it seems like a… pious platitude… to say that Jesus went through suffering and he calls us to do the same. Honestly, I don’t really like that response very well. But it is the proper response.

I find it… impossible to tell a parent who has just lost a child that this was God’s plan. No! Yet to point people to the fact that the Father lost his Son to the power of death isthe only answer. It is not that God planned it – that he is somehow trying to get back at us because of our own sins. Yet God guards are coming and going, as the Responsorial Psalm said.

I remember when my sister called me to the hospital because her daughter had miscarried. I stood at the foot of her bed seeing my niece’s grief, and I couldn’t do anything to help her other than be there. Then my mom walked in and my sister said to her daughter: “Cindy, grandma lost a baby too.” Cindy reached for her grandma and the two women shared in a grief that neither one wanted. I was left standing there not knowing what to say or do. I have never used that part of my family’s stories before.

Well, God shares in our grief even as he guards us. The Responsorial Psalm today reminds us of the covenant love Jesus won for us on the cross. We can cry out to him from the pains of our lives, and trust that he knows – he really knows – what pain has been part of us.

Pray/Praise:   

Lord Jesus, because of your cross you personally know the pains of death. Because of your life you know the pains of friendship. Be with us in our anxieties and pains, our joys and sorrows. Guard us in our comings and goings both now and forever. Amen.

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