Annual Partners in Charity appeal has new $4.8 million goal

​By Bill ​Doyle | CFP Correspondent

The annual Partners in Charity campaign has a new fundraising goal and a new theme, but the purpose remains the same – to help support as many people in need in the Diocese of Worcester as possible.
Partners in Charity helps fund 25 charitable, educational and pastoral ministries in the diocese with donations from parishioners and clergy. For many years the fundraising goal was $5 million, but that number hasn’t been reached since 2018 when $5,076,752 was collected. Last year, Partners in Charity received $4,547,742 in donations, $333,422 less than the year before and the least amount since $4,469,195 was raised in 2021 and $4,379,895 was raised in 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
So, this year, Bishop McManus lowered the goal to $4.8 million.
“It’s a little bit of a balancing act,” said Father John L. Larochelle, episcopal vicar for fiscal affairs for the diocese and pastor of Divine Mercy Parish in Blackstone, “because we had not hit the $5 million goal for several years and I didn’t want to continue recommending the same goal to the bishop if we weren’t hitting that goal because that just gets discouraging for everyone. At the same time, obviously we rely on that money to fund the various ministries at the diocesan level.”
Most parishes kick off their Partners in Charity campaigns at the start of Lent. This year, the campaign will have more time to raise funds because Lent began on Feb. 18, 15 days earlier than last year. The campaign ends at the end of August.
Since the annual fundraising campaign began as the Bishop’s Fund in 1961 more than $200 million has been raised.
“It’s like every year,” said Michael Gillespie, who oversees the annual fundraising appeal as director of the Office of Stewardship and Development for the diocese, “we start off with high hopes and sincere prayer that people will respond as they have in the past and we invite new donors to come on board and let them know what Partners in Charity does and invite them to be part of the mission and to help fund it.”
Broadening the donor base is the top priority this year. Last year, Partners received 11,634 gifts, the fewest of this decade.
Despite the campaign coming up short of the $5 million goal last year, Father Larochelle said all of the ministries were fully funded because some Partners in Charity funding was carried over from the year before. He also expects the ministries to be fully funded again this year if the $4.8 million goal is reached.
Father Larochelle said he was “very optimistic” that the $4.8 million goal will be reached because he’s seen an influx of young people into the church. At Divine Mercy, he’s seen increases in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults program and the number of young people at Mass.
The theme for Partners in Charity this year is “Serve God by Serving Others.” Banners and printed materials show Jesus reaching out to help someone.
In recent years, Partners in Charity has faced challenges caused not only by the pandemic, but the merger of parishes, reduction in attendance at Masses and the three-year Legacy of Hope campaign which ended in 2022 after raising $32 million to repair aging churches and other parish buildings, fund priests’ retirement and custodial care, support Catholic education and fund parish-based outreach. Some parishioners were still paying off their pledges so they may not have contributed as much to Partners in Charity.
Mr. Gillespie said that for the first time in at least a decade the fundraising goals were adjusted this year for the parishes. Some goals were raised, others were lowered.
Father Larochelle wrote to pastors in the diocese on Jan. 9 to explain the adjustment of Partners in Charity fundraising goals. He wrote that the goals were “recalculated using updated data, consisting of an average of the past two years of weekly offertory revenue.”
Increased parish goals were capped at 25 percent and decreased goals were limited to an average of what was raised the previous three years. Goals will be reevaluated on a regular basis in future years.
Last year, 59 parishes in the diocese met or surpassed their fundraising goals, one more than each of the past two years. Due to mergers, the diocese now has 83 parishes and four missions.
Partners in Charity held nine launch gatherings last year and eight the year before, but only three this year, all this week. Holy Family of Nazareth in Leominster, the Chancery Office and St. Joseph Basilica in Webster, hosted them.
Mr. Gillespie called the launch gatherings for top donors the past two years successful and he said that Partners may return to conducting a greater number of launch gatherings next year. However, this year Partners limited the gatherings to pastoral team leaders to offer them assistance in reaching out to parishioners and bringing new people on board.
Partners in Charity supports five charitable organizations: Catholic Charities, Pernet Family Health Service, Priests’ Retirement, Retired Priests Health Ministry and the Diocesan Cemetery System.
Partners also supports eight education agencies: Advanced Studies for Clergy and Laity, Catholic Schools Office, Communications Ministry, School Tuition Assistance, Office of Religious Education, Ongoing Priestly Formation, Seminarian Education and Diocesan School grants.
In addition, Partners supports 12 ministries: African Ministry, Catholic Campus Ministry, Hispanic Apostolate, Minister to Priests, Office for Divine Worship, Office of Hispanic/Latino Ministry, Office of Marriage and Family, Office of the Diaconate, Respect Life Office, St. Paul Cathedral, Vocations Office, and Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
Funding from Partners in Charity helps Catholic Charities and Pernet Family Health Service to assist more than 87,000 people in need with food, support services and infant essentials. Funding also subsidizes 14 seminarians preparing for the priesthood and 10 men in formation for the permanent diaconate.
In addition, Partners helped 790 Catholic school students receive $845,025 in tuition assistance. Eighty-five percent of student applicants received some level of financial aid.
Other ministries assist many others thanks at least in part to funding from Partners in Charity.
“Partners is really the lifeline of the ministries and agencies in the diocese,” Mr. Gillespie said. “Without the support from the parishioners in the parishes, we wouldn’t be able to do all the good that we are able to do.”
“It sounds kind of corny,” Father Larochelle said, “but we really are partners together in the charitable works of the Church, and if we work together, we can accomplish great things, more than any one parish standing alone.”
Donations can be made by passing in your envelope during In-Pew Sunday in March, or online at partners-charity.net/donate, by texting DONATE to 84576, by calling 508-929-4366, by scanning the QR code on the Partners promotional material, by mailing a check to Partners in Charity Appeal, Diocese of Worcester, 49 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609, or by giving a check to your pastor. Checks should be made payable to “Partners in Charity Appeal” and the parish name should be noted in the memo line.
Donors can visit Partners-Charity.net/matching-gifts to see if their companies will match their gift.
Partners in Charity has added a sustaining donor program. Gifts will be deducted each year from a parishioner’s bank account monthly for 10 months. Each year, the parishes will be notified of such sustained gifts and donors will receive tax acknowledgement letters. To become a sustaining donor, parishioners should check the sustained monthly gift option on their pledge cards.