St Martin of Tours  Parish 

             The Bishop’s Annual Appeal 2019
We are Called…

We, the followers of Jesus and faithful members of His Church, are called to carry on Jesus' saving mission in the ways that we live our faith and put our faith into practice each and every day. As Jesus gave Himself so generously for our salvation, we too are called to give of our gifts, talents and resources to help His Church move forward in hope.

The theme for this year's Bishop's Annual Appeal is " We are Called...", which emphasizes the fact that each of us is invited to give our gifts, talents and resources in the same spirit of generous giving that God has given to us in His Son, and our Lord, Jesus. We are called, to live as Jesus has shown and taught us; we are called to use our God-given gifts to care for one another; we are called, to live lives of holiness.

Through the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, we share Christ’s mission by serving countless people in ways we may not realize. All of us, personally and through our parishes, enjoy the fruits of the work of the diocesan ministry departments. When we use God’s blessing to make our annual gift or pledge, we join with all of our sisters and brothers in Christ throughout the diocese to do the Lord’s work — work that no one individual or parish can do alone.

This year’s Bishop’s Annual Appeal video is available to view here: https://youtu.be/dFLL2omaZnU. Also, a Bishop’s Letter with pledge card & return envelope enclosed will be mail on April 25. Parishioners can expect to receive this April 27 – May 5.
Thank you for your support.
 
 

        What does the Bishop’s Annual Appeal Fund?

 
 The Immigration Assistance Program of the Diocese of Kalamazoo provides critical and competent services to the indigent immigration population in our diocese. These services include legal representation, immigration status assistance, citizen application, DACA children, and help with domestic crimes and violence among many other important matters. Our clients typically fall under the 200% poverty line and though they are usually charged some fee, the generous contributions from the Bishop’s Annual Appeal allow us to provide significantly reduced assistance to immigrants from a variety of countries.
 
The Office of Schools, funded by the donations from the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, allows your diocese to provide support to all of our 22 Catholic Schools. Our office helps our schools work together cohesively for the common good of each other, their respective staffs and the students who attend.  We assist in providing everyone with an overall better educational experience. Among other things, we support each school with professional development opportunities for teachers, administrators and support staff; administrative assistance; support with enrollment and retention initiatives; guidance and monitoring on school improvements; oversight and guidance on curriculum; assistance with obtaining title funds and grants; policies and regulations for school guidance and compliance for health and safety regulations.

The Catholic Community Center, of Benton Harbor, provides a wide range of services and aide to hundreds of people in the community. Some of the services provided by our volunteers include food, heating and utility assistance, budgeting and computer tutoring, transportation services to medical providers, elderly and widow programs, and much more. With the generous donations from parishioners to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal we serve the critical needs of hundreds of families within our community each year.
 
The Diocesan office of Catechetics and Youth Ministry provides inspirational Catholic programming to the youth in our diocese. These programs and services provided by the generous contributions from the Bishop’s Annual Appeal include the annual youth rallies, the National Catholic Youth Conference, confirmation retreats, The Presence, Catholic scouting events, and much more. With the significant cost of hosting such events, the Bishop’s Annual Appeal provides critical subsidies allowing many more of our Catholic youth to participate and grow in their faith.

Catholic Charities, funded in part by the Bishop’s Annual Appeal, provides professional services ranging from prevention and education to crises intervention to over 10,000 people annually in nine counties within the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Some of the issues Catholic Charities serves include homelessness, human trafficking, mental health
counseling, single mother assistance and utilities assistance. 

Young Adult and Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Kalamazoo includes offerings that focus on the communal and spiritual lives of the souls (18 years and older) in the nine counties of southwest Michigan. This focus stems from the foundational center of the Catholic Church; namely Jesus Christ, encountering Him in the Eucharist and allowing our right relationship with Jesus to drive our love for others. We are blessed within the Diocese to have the support we do for the offerings we provide such as Ministry
Training Day, Diocesan Annual Open Retreat, Good News & Brews and Young Adult Retreat.
 

 STEWARDSHIP PRAYER

Almighty and ever-faithful Lord, gratefully acknowledging Your mercy and humbly admitting our need, we pledge our trust in You and each other. Filled with desire, we respond to Your call for discipleship by shaping our lives in imitation of Christ. We profess that the call requires us to be stewards of Your gifts. As stewards, we receive Your gifts gratefully, cherish and tend them in a responsible manner, share them in practice and love with others, and return them with increase to the Lord. We pledge to our ongoing formation as stewards and our responsibility to call others to that same endeavor. Almighty and ever-faithful God, it is our fervent hope and prayer that You who have begun this good work in us will bring it to fulfillment in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.