There But For The Grace Of God….
There but for the Grace of God…. We’ve all heard that before, and many of us have it come to mind when we see some poor soul in our daily travels. This column is about that.
This likely won’t surprise you, but Forbes Magazine reports that through 2015, the U.S. owns 41.6 percent of the world’s personal wealth.
How is it, then, that more than 40 percent of U.S. dioceses do not have the resources to meet basic pastoral needs?
We can’t play those two stats against each other; we simply must acknowledge their veracity and do what we can to use some of that 41.6 percent to help eradicate some of that more-than-40 percent.
You and I can help this weekend (April 23-24) by contributing to the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal. The theme is “Strengthening the Church at Home.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Home Missions coordinates the appeal, and it uses funds collected to provide grants to dioceses around the country for seminary formation, lay leadership training, catechetical programs, Hispanic ministries and other essential pastoral programs. Look at the graphic with this column. All of the areas shaded black are part of that more-than-40-percent mentioned earlier.
Bishop Paul Etienne of Cheyenne, Wyo., chairs the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. He notes in a recent letter about the appeal that the dioceses without resources to meet basic pastoral needs are home to more than nine million Catholics. He also gives an example of the kind of impact made possible by the grants funded through the annual appeal.
He discusses Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School, where 90 percent of the families fall below the poverty line – and 99 percent of the students are members of racial minorities. A grant funded by the Home Missions Appeal, however, helps the school maintain a 100-percent graduation rate – and 95 percent of those graduates are enrolled in a college or university.
I suspect that none of the information in that last paragraph surprises many of you reading these words. We all know the tremendous benefits of Catholic education, as evidenced by the students and graduates of our 26 diocesan Catholic schools.
On the other hand, at least some of you might be surprised – as I was – to learn where Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School is located. Let’s just say you Cardinal fans can’t get to the new Busch Stadium for a home game without driving within a few blocks of the campus, in East St. Louis, Ill., just south of I-64.
Connect the dots.
We see need from far off – starving families, refugee families from continents away; and sick families, struggling families in the Caribbean. We help them. This diocese, in fact, continues to build a tremendous legacy of helping our friends in Haiti and other lands far from Southwest Indiana.
Here at home, we feed the hungry and clothe the naked; visit the sick and those in prision – we practice faithfully the corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy.
Just remember, however, that there are other Americans who need our help in the kinds of pastoral ways that we might never pause to consider. Think about them, pray for them and help them through the Catholic Home Missions Appeal.
