He even brought Dinner

Archbishop Lucas came to St. Columbkille last week. After he fed a roomful of people he spoke about the Ignite the Faith campaign he is kicking off.

The campaign is an opportunity for everyone to play a role in strengthening the Catholic Church in northeast Nebraska. The campaign will focus on raising $40 million to strengthen our Catholic schools and parishes, provide for our priests and support faith formation programs in our parishes. Archbishop Lucas has asked our parishioners to prayerfully consider giving 2 % of your annual income to the campaign for 3 years. This fits within the model the US Bishops have advocated where everyone  gives 5% of their income to their local parish, 1 % to the local diocese and 4 % to other charities.

Archbishop Lucas took questions from the crowd. In response to one question, he explained that the Annual Appeal will continue as normal this fall and he hopes we would be as supportive of that appeal as we have been in the past. This is a short term for funds.

He was also asked how we can better support teachers in schools. Archbishop Lucas said he would love to give the teachers a raise through the campaign, but that wouldn't be sustainable. One thing the campaign will do is offer grants to teachers to improve their education. He also spoke of how all of his moves to consolidate some parishes and schools have been made to make certain they are sustainable over time.

He was also asked, "What if out of the 4% of your tithing you have already made commitments to other groups?" He responded that by all means one ought to honor those commitments. He simply asks that we all prayerfully consider how we might help.

As always it was delightful to have the archbishop in our parish. He said, "I can't play favorites in the archdiocese, but today St. Columbkille is my favorite parish."