Every family in the Rockford Diocese is receiving this issue of The Observer. It is the time of year when we reach out to all Catholics in our 11-county diocese in order to help educate you on the good that goes on in our little corner of this universal Church all year thanks to your generosity.

 

This issue of the paper highlights the annual diocesan appeal which you can read more about on pages 19-22 of this issue.

 

However, there is more to this issue. The stories we hope, help illustrate what the contributions to annual appeal accomplish. For instance, they help those with vocations like the seminarians on pages 4-5 and Father John McNamara on pages 8-9. The annual appeal helps us understand and effectively minister to young people like those of the millennial generation featured in a story starting on page 12.

So we hope you enjoy this large and jam-packed edition of The Observer and hope its content will compel you to subscribe to a paper that draws its content right from the root and source of our faith, which is Scripture. And of course, there is much, much, more.

 

Now, let’s think a moment about this annual appeal and its theme ... Love One Another. 

 

That’s a tall order, especially if we do it the way the Gospel instructs. It’s impossible to love everyone in the way they need to be loved by us. And on our own we can’t begin to know what love means to each person. 

 

Parishes do a good job of offering the love of Christ in ministries. But they can’t do it alone either. Parishes are not islands. They are integral parts of a geographic family called your diocese. The diocese needs the parishes and they need the diocese. Diocesan-level ministries help provide priests, programs and development for staff at our parishes and schools. We share a connectedness just as we are connected to the Church in our state, in our country and in our world. Some of our contributions help the bishops in this state and around the country guide the Church as it serves its people. We also have an obligation to help our Holy Father in his ministry of love and guidance to all of us, and we are privileged to assist in that as well. 

 

Sometimes love means helping a young child prepare for the sacraments. Sometimes it means making sure our elderly citizens are cared for with respect and dignity no matter if they are at home or in long-term care. 

 

Sometimes love means helping young women find a community where they can work and live and serve God in consecrated life. Sometimes it means helping young men discern a call to the priesthood. And sometimes love means just opening the conversation about what a life of service might be like as a nun, priest or permanent deacon.

 

Sometimes love means helping young people prepare for a vocation in married life and helping them take time to plan for marriage and not just a wedding. 

 

Sometimes love means celebrating Mass behind the bars of a prison and letting those incarcerated know that Christ is waiting and His forgiveness is free for the asking.

 

Sometimes love is gathering young people together to affirm their faith and help them stay connected to Christ through the sacraments and give them the strength to resist the temptations of secular culture.

 

Love can be all these things. And even though none of us can do all these things, we have the power to assure they are done. And that means that sometimes love comes in the way of sharing our money so acts of charity and Christian love can take place. Every time we contribute to the Diocesan Annual Appeal, we make it possible for our local diocese to respond to the needs of the poor and the refugee, to encourage, grow and support vocations, to promote life and marriage, to inspire young people, to provide Catholic education in schools, parishes and special education programs, to care for the elderly, to assist those in troubled marriages, to educate and form people for parish ministry and to allow our bishop to continue his ministry and shepherd all of us.

 

Prayerfully consider assisting in the call to love one another and be generous if you can.