The Latest CMA Update

From the Pastor:    The Latest CMA Update

       After looking over the latest Catholic Ministry Appeal update this week I want to share some thoughts with you. In case the name of the appeal doesn’t ring a bell, it is the Bishop’s fund drive that pays for the various ministries of the diocese. It replaced APA, the Annual Pastoral Appeal, a couple of years ago. When Bishop Parkes first introduced this new appeal, the priests wrongly assumed that it was just a rebranded APA, which itself was just a rebranded BAPA (Bishop’s Annual Pastoral Appeal). We were quite pleased when we discovered the differences. The APA “goal” for each parish, for instance, was a mandatory amount of money that the parish was required to either raise through appealing to the parishioners or, falling short of the goal by those efforts, take from the parish savings account. Due to the way the APA goals were calculated, if a parish appeal fell short and had to be paid from savings, the subsidized amount was essentially “taxed” twice through a long and impossible-to-verify taxation (or goal-setting) formula. The diocese needed the money, we were told, and they were going to get it one way or another. The double taxation encouraged parishioners to donate to APA so that their money was only “taxed” once. Behind the CMA was a new strategy aimed at encouraging the Catholic generosity of the parishioners to shine forth brightly and voluntarily rather than threatening them with a cudgel. The administrative costs of running the diocese were taken out of the Appeal (and are now paid for with a flat tax on our collections) so the CMA now only funds the “charitable” and “ministerial” activities of the diocese. If the diocese’s overall goal isn’t met, the Bishop said that he will take that as a sign that the people don’t want to support what he is offering and, rather than take money against their will, he will simply cut the programs the people don’t want to support. Gasp! It was hard to believe that he would cut the funding for pro-life activities, prison ministry, the Marriage Tribunal, Vocations programs, Seminary Education, and so many other great programs we have traditionally supported as a diocese. But he gave his word. He trusted that the goals would be met when people of faith were given choices as to where their hard-earned money would best be put to use. Catching more flies with honey than vinegar, and all that stuff.
       And how, you may ask, would he tell which programs the people wished to support and which they did not wish to support? By allowing them to choose which specific ministry they desire their money to go to when they donate. If you go to our parish webpage you can scroll down on the homepage and click on the CMA link. On the page that opens up, you can see many of the ministries financed by the diocese through this appeal. Once you then click on the “make a gift” button you can specify to which ministry you would like your donation applied. Targeted donations like that are legally and morally to be used only for the specified purpose. If the ministry you wish to support does not appear on the drop-down menu (the menu would be too unwieldy to list every single ministry) you can check, “I don’t see my ministry, please contact me” and they actually will do so! Of course, you also have the option to allow the donation to be given “unrestricted” so that it can be used to fund any of the diocesan ministries in need.
       Under this new system, if a pastor gives his “best effort” to reach the parish goal yet falls short, the bishop will neither take the remainder of the “bill” from them nor penalize them the following years in any way, shape, or form. If the “best effort” was not exerted, however, all bets are off the table. I have written about this before when the bishop questioned my “best effort” at Epiphany. So far this approach has worked on a diocese-wide scale. But for some reason, it has not done too well at this parish. We eventually meet our goal but with minimal participation. The last two years this was understandable since we were (and still are) threatened with having the Traditional Latin Mass taken away from us and that has a tendency to reduce one’s generous tendencies. But, as mentioned last week, Bishop Parkes has done all he can to support us and protect us from those in Rome who seem, to put it mildly, to dislike people who attend the TLM. If calamity strikes us, it is certainly not Bishop Parkes’ fault! Supporting the Bishop and financially supporting his/our ministries, is just plain Catholic. It seems to me that everyone should be able to find at least one charitable ministry within the diocese that they can willingly support, even if they cannot send in thousands and thousands of dollars. 
       Yet, as of this being written, only 18% of Epiphany households have donated to the CMA this year. We have reached 67% of our goal, which means that those who have donated have been very generous and I thank you very much for that! But how about the rest of you? I know, inflation is high and your wallets are light. Those in worse shape are often the ones receiving help from CMA. Don’t know if the Bishop will spend the money “correctly”? Does your boss withhold your pay because he thinks you are wasting it? Are there really any good reasons not to give at least a small gift, like the widow’s mite? We should all support Church ministries out of love of God and love of neighbor. Consider making a cheerful, charitable gift.

With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka