Officially as of June 30, the campaign has received pledges totalling $101.6 million, with roughly half the parishes yet to complete their campaigns.
“We will soon be on $105 million, which is the minimum goal for the whole campaign,” said spokesperson John Ecker. “It feels good because we are further ahead than we expected.”
The Family of Faith campaign was launched by Cardinal Thomas Collins in May 2014. The ambitious archdiocesan-wide campaign is seeking funds to support pastoral and capital projects, as well as to support individual parish priorities. Each parish was assigned a specific fundraising goal that is equal to 133 per cent of its 2012 offertory.
“Parishioners across the archdiocese have shown great generosity,” said Cardinal Collins. “Through their gifts to the campaign they have demonstrated their love for the family of faith that is two million strong in parishes throughout the archdiocese.”
To date, parish campaigns have raised about 150% of their collective goal.
“That success means that more funds will remain in parishes to address the priorities identified by our pastors and their parishioners,” Collins said. “That’s terrific news.”
Ecker praised the priests and parishioners of the archdiocese for the stunning success to date.
“The pastors and their volunteershave done such an excellent job in sharing the information about the campaign,” he said. “It is obviously resonating with parishioners.”
Among the initiatives targeted for support are youth ministry, lay ministry, a standardized web site platform and renovations to St. Michael’s Cathedral, as well as funds to support the priorities put forward by each parish.
For local needs, the parishes retain 25 per cent of the money raised up to the parish goal. If a parish surpasses its goal, 75 per cent of money raised above the goal is retained by the parish.
So far the majority of parishes which have participated have exceeded their parish goal. That is good news for the parishes but it means that the archdiocese still has a long way to go to meet its target of about $80 million of the $105 million.
“There are no extra funds right around the corner” for the archdiocesan goal, said Ecker. “So we’ll have to go above our minimum goal in order to ensure the rest of the plan is fully funded.”