DIOCESE—The National Appeal, the first of the 2018 Combined Collections for the Universal Catholic Church, will take place at parishes of the Diocese of Rockford the weekend of Jan. 20-21.

 

The Rockford Diocese continues its tradition of bringing several annual appeals into one collection — for a total of three collections, plus one appeal to support the diocese itself. These few collections replace what would otherwise be more than 12 separate, annual collections.

 

This National Appeal will benefit:

 

â–º The Retirement Fund for Religious, a program begun by the U.S. Bishops in 1988 to address the significant lack of retirement funding for Catholic sisters, brothers and priests in religious orders. That lack is the result of decades of these religious men and women working for small stipends and the basics of daily living. Last year, this diocese contributed $172,748 to this appeal.

Info: www.retiredreligious.org

 

â–º The Catholic University of America, the national university of the Catholic Church, the only one founded by the U.S. Bishops and chartered by the Vatican. Some 6,000 students are educated at CUA each year in a faith-filled atmosphere. Every dollar directly supports financial aid for students from diocese across the country, including Rockford. Last year, the Rockford Diocese provided $7,950 to this cause.

Info: www.cua.edu 

 

â–ºThe Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which works to break the cycle of poverty across the United States. One-fourth of this collection remains in the Diocese of Rockford to fund local anti-poverty projects. This diocese distributed $24,620 from this campaign last year.

Info: www.usccb.org/cchd

 

â–ºThe Catholic Communications Campaign supports Catholic media projects here and all over the U.S. that use a variety of technologies to spread the Gospel message. Last year with your help, the diocese distributed $75,681 to this cause.

Info: www.usccb.org

 

â–º Underprivileged Catholic schools in the Diocese of Rockford and the diocesan retired priests’ pension fund are also supported by this collection. In 2017, contributions to these diocesan funds were $127,435 for schools and  $172,982 for retired priests.

Info: www.rockforddiocese.org

 

Bishop David Malloy calls Catholics of the diocese “to prayerfully contribute to the work of the Catholic Church in particular efforts to spread the faith here in the United States,” calling the appeal “part of our participation in the life of the Church and the Diocese of Rockford.”

Online donations may be made at www.rockforddiocese.org/donate.