As a parish community, we are blessed to be a part of the vibrant Archdiocese of Atlanta. The archdiocese shares in the mission of the universal Church. One way it does this is through the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.
This weekend we initiate discussion of the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal for 2025 at our Masses. The theme of the Appeal is “We Are One Body in Christ.” At this time, Catholics are invited to make a significant pledge so that we can meet the spiritual, educational, and temporal needs of our parishes and our people.
Archbishop Hartmayer stated, “The Annual Appeal provides an opportunity for us to put our faith into action by putting the gifts with which the Lord has blessed us in the service of others. As the main source of funding for all the ministerial, outreach, education, formation, and discipleship work of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, your sacrificial gift-giving allows us to continue the work of Christ throughout our Archdiocese.”
Specifically, a substantial portion of our contributions to the Appeal provide funds that go to the training and support of future happy, holy, and healthy priests needed to serve the Church of tomorrow. We are blessed to have a newly ordained priest who benefited directly from the Appeal, Fr. Colin Patrick, serving in our parish. Our contributions are also used for the training and formation of permanent deacons and others in religious life. Through your generosity and your prayers, vocations are being embraced as we go forth in service of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.
In addition, the Appeal supports Catholic Charities, which continues to make a focused effort to assist homeless military veterans in the Atlanta area and in other local areas and to help stabilize their lives with housing and employment assistance. The Appeal also supports priest retirement programs as well as other Archdiocesan pastoral outreach, education, and formation programs that serve our Parish as well as our larger Church community.
We invite you to prayerfully consider making a pledge to the 2025 Appeal and ask you to give generously and sacrificially. We thank all who have already given them via the mail or online. For those who have not yet contributed, we ask you to make a commitment using a pledge envelope that will be provided during Mass this weekend. Information about the Appeal has been provided in the Church Bulletin and on the Parish website.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are challenged to respond in faith to this invitation and request. Your continued generosity is truly appreciated.
Thank you for all you do to support our Church community.