ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL

What is the Annual Catholic Appeal?

The Annual Catholic Appeal was initiated in 1959 to provide for the ever-increasing educational, human, pastoral and spiritual needs of the people of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. The Appeal enables our church to implement and administer these and other critical services in a comprehensive framework in order to carry out the work of Jesus Christ. It would not be possible to carry out His work without your assistance.

The youth and young adults are the future of the Church. We need to provide outstanding education and quality faith formation opportunities for them.

• Over 4,400 students attend Catholic elementary schools, pre-K through eighth grade. Nearly 1,300 students attend Catholic high schools.
• More than 30,000 students from grades K-12 participate in parish-based religious education activities in the Diocese of Springfield. These students are taught by more than 1,800 catechists trained by the Diocese.
• Nearly 700 students attend weekly Mass at the Newman Center at the University of Massachusetts. In addition, 19 clergy and 10 religious are “alums” of the Newman Center.
• Homework House – More than 100 students from the poorest areas in Holyoke receive after-school assistance from the Homework House.
• The Catholic Youth Center – More than 1,000 students participate in after-school programs at the Catholic Youth Center in Pittsfield.

• Providence Ministries provides shelter and meals to our brothers and sisters in need. Without these services, many of them would go hungry and be sleeping on the streets.
• Take & Eat provides nearly 26,000 meals to elderly and disabled home-bound on weekends and holidays. It also provides much needed social contact for many of our home-bound brothers and sisters.
• More than 1,000 developmentally disabled individuals receive assistance through Jericho, The Bureau for Exceptional Children and Adults. The staff at Jericho strive to bring dignity, respect, and wholeness into the lives of people with disabilities. Jericho receives financial support from the Appeal.
• The Youth Ministry Office provides activities and programs which offer spiritual guidance and direction to help form our youth and young adults.

• The Lay Ministry Program provides training assistance and support to more than 1,500 extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist to assist our clergy.
• Twenty-five seminarians from the Diocese of Springfield are currently studying to be the priests of the future.
• Nearly 1,700 people chose the Rite of Christian Initiation between 2000 and 2008 and joined the Catholic Church here in Springfield.
• Financial support is provided to St. Michael’s Residence, a retirement center for elderly clergy, and also, to a retirement fund for the many elderly religious who committed and dedicated their lives to serve the Church and us.

• One-half million viewers each week have access to the uplifting news from throughout Western Massachusetts during Catholic Communications’ half-hour news magazine broadcast of “Real to Reel.”
• 28,000 home-bound sick and elderly are spiritually nourished each week though Catholic Communications’ broadcast of the Mass, “Chalice of Salvation.”
• 18,367 Catholics relied on Catholic Communications’ news web site iobserve.org accessing 504,584 items during 2007. The diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Observer, published bi-weekly by Catholic Communications, reaches 30,000 homes at Christmas and Easter and 10,000 during the regular season.