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ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL 2012

 

May 6, 2012

In the sacrament of baptism, as the parents holding the infant stand near the

baptismal water, and as the godparents draw close, the pastor formally inquires as

to what these people request from the Church. “What do you ask of God’s Church

for your infant?” And the parents will answer “baptism,” or perhaps “faith,” or

they might say “entrance into the Church.” And the rite asks if parents understand

the baptismal duty to bring up the child in the faith by loving God and by loving

our neighbor. And the parents respond that they understand such a duty.

And the congregation joins the parents in renewing their baptismal vows. We reject

Satan and all his works. We profess our faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ

His Son, and in the Holy Spirit; and we add our belief in the Church and in our

resurrection to eternal life. “This is our faith…. We are proud to profess it.”

The parents have committed the child to a religious life, to the path first trod by

Jesus Christ. In baptism, you and I and all of us engage ourselves in the way of

scripture. We choose a compass that differs from the direction-finder of a worldly

person. Success has a religious core; it does not suffice to puff our egos while

trampling on others. Our love of God and love of neighbor will salt our

achievement. Without such baptismal fulfillment, we would discover only the

worldly direction. In rejecting Satan, we also more firmly embrace our faith in the

triune God. And we embrace the Church in its good works.

Especially on Sunday, we celebrate our baptism by attending to scripture, joining

in the Eucharistic offering, and receiving the bread of life. Thus we publicly

express our baptismal faith, even while also daily praying, and while living

religious lives.

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The baptismal rite affects our loves, for by this rite we enter Christian living. An

important element of Christian life, the Annual Catholic Appeal, we mark today in

this parish. For as adults we pledge support for the ministries of our Church. We

support seminarians who in due time will administer the sacraments. We support

our deacon candidates, and we support religious sisters who aid us first in their

committed life and then in the religious works that engage them.

Our Archdiocese emits its clarion call to its people, to the baptized, to us who share

the Catholic and Christian way. If King County’s United Way and this island’s

One Call for All aid the work of institutes, ought we the baptized not hear the call

to advance the works of our Church?

By means of the Annual Catholic Appeal, you and I, baptized saints in the making,

enter the efforts of the Church, of the Archdiocese as it assists those who appeal,

not to this parish nor to some one entity, but to the broader view of the Archbishop.

Last summer, a dozen teens from this parish journeyed as pilgrims to Madrid to

share in World Youth Days. Pope Benedict joined in the festivities of that event.

One and a half million young people realized in a new manner the Catholicity of

this Church, for they rubbed shoulders with young folk who shared their faith, even

if they did not share the language, who received a fervent Eucharist, even if they

did not share the same manner of dress or of food. Like our own Youthies, these

baptized Catholics came to Madrid from the earth’s four corners, from Nigeria and

from Russia, from Brazil and Mongolia, from the Philippines and from Lebanon.

Experiencing the universal Church thrilled our people, and it enriched them to

realize a common bond of baptism, of faith in the scripture, of religiously living

the call of Christ to holiness.

Although the Madrid World Youth Festival lasted only a few days, its effects

remain with us. They remind us of our common baptism into Christ and of our

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common concern for the effort of the Church to teach the children in this

Archdiocese as it spreads its arms from the Canadian to the Oregon border, from

the Peace Arch to the Columbia River, and from the crest of the Rockies to the

Pacific Ocean. That is a large reach; it encompasses 175 parishes.

The Seattle Archdiocese, for instance, spreads our baptismal faith through its office

of Catholic Faith Formation, an office that works through the parishes. Nine people

work in this office to aid parishes with programs that instruct children from

kindergarten through high school, programs that encourage and instruct

catechetical teachers, that informs us on Catholic social teaching with its cultural

and ethnic corollaries, and programs that bring aid from us to Mission parishes. Dr.

Mary Cross and Dr. Anne Frederick direct this office of Catholic Faith Formation.

Sixty ministries back up our parishes and advance the efforts of the Archdiocese in

many directions. This parish of St. Cecilia would be poor and pallid without such

programmatic aid. “Go,” said our Lord at His ascension, “and baptize all nations”

(Matthew 28:19). Our own baptism urges us to spread the good news. One way is

by responding financially to our baptismal urge.

Our goal this year for the Annual Catholic Appeal is sixty-eight thousand dollars.

Unlike a few other parishes last year, Saint Cecilia both reached its goal and even

enjoyed a rebate of over eight thousand dollars. I thank you for our successful

efforts in the past; I hope that our efforts are as successful in the coming year.

We pause now to fill out the pledge card in the pews. Please join me in surpassing

the goal that the Archdiocese asks of us.