Let’s talk about gratitude first. Thank you for reading The Observer and thank you for subscribing to our diocesan newspaper. 

 

And thanks too, for your support beyond your subscription. During our annual subscription drive we ask Catholics to consider donating to our endowment fund and to our archive project. Many people have donated to those funds and our staff is incredibly grateful. 

 

Donations to the Bishop Arthur J. O’Neill Endowment for The Observer helps assure funding for new technologies, new software and hardware in a media landscape that is constantly evolving. The Observer is able to use the earnings on this small endowment to continue the work of the Diocese of Rockford in keeping folks informed and inspired.

 

Donations to the Bishop Thomas G. Doran Archive Project help preserve each and every part of our history as documented in the pages of The Observer Catholic newspaper since its founding in 1935. The newspapers are preserved in several ways. The crumbling pages from years past are digitized. The paper editions surviving in good shape are professionally bound and also digitized. All of this information is put in a public archive on the internet. Hundreds of folks in the diocese have contributed to this cause and again, we are incredibly grateful. This project in preservation is important for our local Church and for the generations who come after us that will need to know, study and research our local diocese.

 

Like so many things, it takes money to accomplish good things. And this is our thanks for the help you provide.

 

Opportunity

 

In this issue of The Observer there are opportunities for Catholics to know about and participate in. There are important ads placed in this issue that carry important information for our readers. And this information may not be available to you from Google, Alexa or Siri. That’s why this newspaper is important. And if you are reading this and don’t currently subscribe to this newspaper, consider doing so. There is an ad about The Observer on page 4. We would like to have you join our Observer family of Catholic readers.

 

There is a Holy Hour available throughout the diocese with more information on page 17. Also on page 17, you can read about the wonderful space to grow your faith known as the Bishop Lane Retreat Center. On page 5 you can find out more about the Men’s Summit taking place this summer. There is an opportunity for you to expand your charity and offer help to our Haitian brothers and sisters on pages 18 and 19. On page 16 you are invited to consider the great opportunity of sending your son or daughter to St. Edward Catholic Preparatory Academy — an opportunity that will give forth a lifetime of benefit to your family and your community too. And then on pages 11 through 14 there is all the important information about our annual Diocesan Appeal and the good work accomplished on your behalf throughout the 11 counties of the Rockford Diocese every day of every year.

 

All these (and more) are opportunities to stretch ourselves as Catholic people. The opportunities to expand our charity and make a difference beyond our parish walls are incredible and so appreciated. And what better way to build your faith and strengthen your friendship with Christ than to participate in one of the many activities, programs and events described in this paper. My prayer is that you do.

 

Responsibility

 

And finally there is responsibility. We are fortunate people. 

 

Even if we have periods of trial and suffering, I think we are still very lucky. This past year alone in my little family there has been cancer, surgeries, death and financial hardships. I am sure many of you experience that too. But I still wake up each day, regardless of any personal sorrows, in a wondrous time of convenience and plenty in a free nation without war. 

 

So why wouldn’t I feel responsible to help others? And what better way to fulfill those responsibilities than to take part in the opportunities above. Learn a little. Pray a little. Give a little. All our little gestures and gifts will help make a difference to someone, somewhere, somehow. And those gestures, my friends, should fill us with the first subject of this column … gratitude.