Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal

The DPAA is our annual opportunity to support the work of the Church throughout the fourteen counties of our Diocese.  The annual campaign raises funds for spiritual, educational, and charitable outreach ministries.  The ministries funded by the DPAA reflect our belief in the sanctity of human life, the dignity of the individual, the importance of Catholic education, the need for vocations, and the importance of the family in society.  In addition, individual parish programs and projects are annually funded through the DPAA rebate program.

St.Timothy Parish's goal: $134,231
plus $35,000 for stained glass window project.
Please be generous!

Diocese of Covington Office of Stewardship & Mission Services

Father Bolte's 2006 DPAA Message

Today, I am also asked to speak to you about the Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal. If you’ve read the mailings, the flyer in the bulletin last week, or read the Messenger you know our goal is $123,088 which is the highest for the whole diocese. We may grumble at that but the figure is determined by a simple formula. The amount is a percentage of three years’ total income for a parish minus the money the parish spent on an elementary school during that time. We spent only about 16% of our income on support for St. Paul School. I know from my work in Newport that other parishes spend as much as 50-60% with the average being 23%. That is why our amount is so high.

If you’ve read any of the brochures, you know what the money is raised for. It is not for the bishop, it does not pay lawyer’s fees, it is not part of the abuse settlement, it is for various organizations around the diocese that show our love and support for the ministry they do. Many of those organizations are the very organizations that we already help support through the parish grant program. And just as we make donations not just from us individually but as a family, and just as we make donations as a whole parish, the DPAA allows us to express our concern and support as a whole Catholic population of the Diocese of Covington.

The response to the idea of hanging a crucifix in the sanctuary has brought many favorable responses from many of you. I thank you for those responses. We will attach this to the end of the DPAA. You probably know that any money raised above our goal comes back to the parish without it being assessed by the diocese. One of the men from our parish came into the sacristy the Sunday I suggested we get a crucifix for the sanctuary. He had his son with him and wondered if by making a donation to the DPAA they would also be helping buy the crucifix. He wanted his son to be able to say, in future years, “There’s the crucifix I helped provide for our church.” I think it would be good for all of us to have a part in the crucifix.

Finally, as I hope you know, last year, our goal was $105,000 and we tried to raise an additional $30,000 for the year’s payment on the land purchase. We did raise an extra $22,000. I would like to try to also do that this year. Even though, as I reported to you in February, we are paying down our debt, we will be paying it off at a rate that will take over five years. I believe we have dreams of doing additional building before five years. I strongly recommend we start trying to pay down more of this debt now.

Next week is commitment Sunday, when we are asked to pledge a certain amount to the DPAA. Please spend some time this week praying about your contribution and talking about it with others in your household. It is important that we support the good things happening in our area as a diocese, we can all have a part in paying for the crucifix, and we need to work on paying down the debt a bit faster.

April 22-23, 2006