Charity may be a very short word, but with its tremendous meaning of pure love, it sums up man’s entire relation to God and to his neighbor. –St. Aelred of Rievaulx
We are incredibly blessed as a Parish Family to have the opportunity to serve so many in need through our good works, with our time, our talent, and our treasure. As we come to the end of the year, we look to complete one of our Diocesan responsibilities, the Catholic Faith Appeal, or CFA. The CFA is a Diocesan contribution in which all the members of the churches in Southwest Florida work together to support the central services we all rely on as Catholics and active community members. There are several essential efforts that rely on the CFA:
- Catholic Charities: As a leading provider of social services, Catholic Charities supports over 40,000 people with programs like direct assistance to pay their utility bills, emergency intake programs for those that have become homeless, ending human trafficking in our backyard, citizenship assistance, and veteran housing.
- Catholic Schools: It costs a tremendous amount to provide a high-quality education, and the CFA supports the Catholic Schools in the area to ensure members of our community can have access to this faith-based education system through high school
- Vocations: From the Seminarian programs that instruct our future priests and deacons to providing support for the 35 different women’s religious orders and 26 different communities of brothers and priests within the Diocese, the CFA ensures we provide for the education and well-being for those who have dedicated their lives in service to us and our faith.
Every year, the Diocese of Venice places a goal for each parish to provide a certain amount towards an overall need the Diocese has. For 2019, we have been asked to contribute $575,000. We are nearly at our goal this year, currently at $464,459.30, or just slightly over 80%. We need your assistance to reach, and hopefully exceed this goal.
Every dollar that our Parish goes over our CFA Goal will come back to the church as income that is not assessed for the next year’s goal. We will use all of the excess directly to the Finish the Church loan principal, assisting us in shortening the time it will take us to fulfill this obligation. We ask that you prayerfully consider giving to the CFA for your end of the year contribution to help us both meet our goal and Finish the Church at the same time! Please contact Jean-Paul Boucher, our Business Manager, if you need assistance with a CFA gift. A check should be made out to the Catholic Faith Appeal with the memo line: Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church.