The Catholic Home Mission collection will be taken up June 3-4. In 2022, the faithful in the Diocese of Columbus contributed $60,196.68. 

Thank you for your generosity on behalf of Bishop Earl Fernandes and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) subcommittee in charge of the collection. The Bishops Subcommittee on the Home Missions, which was founded as the American Board of Catholic Missions in 1924, provides financial support for missionary activities that strengthen and extend the presence of the Church in the United States and island territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The diocese has four missionaries working in Catholic Home Mission areas: Sister Giovanni Paulo dell’ Eucharistia of the Society of our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity; Father Robert Goodyear of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity; and Father David Glockner and Brother David Henley, both members of the Glenmary Home Missioners. 

Most of the dioceses and eparchies covered by USCCB Home Missions are in Appalachia, the South, the Southwest along the Mexican border, the Rocky Mountain states, Alaska, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands and the Carolines in the Pacific. 

Approximately 43 percent of U.S. dioceses and eparchies are designated as “Home Missions” by the USCCB. These churches lack the resources to provide basic pastoral services (evangelization, religious education, ministry training) to the faithful, and all of them receive funds from the Catholic Home Mission collection.  

Your support of the Catholic Home Missions means these dioceses have the resources to minister to their growing multicultural populations. Catholic Home Mission funds assist the Kentucky Diocese of Owensboro’s Hispanic Ministry to meet its growing needs. Its 31 bilingual priests celebrate more than 900 Masses in Spanish each year, along with baptisms, weddings and confirmations in Spanish. It successfully undertakes many humanitarian projects for the greater glory of God. 

Home Mission funds also assist with deaf ministries. Bishop Steven Raica of the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, says, “The deaf community is hidden. It is interspersed in society and the Church. There is a general lack of awareness, but every once in a while, you get a breakthrough.” (Catholic Home Missions, “Newsletter,” Issue 2 2022). 

According to research done by Gallaudet University, about 96% of deaf people do not attend church or practice religion. “Our faith is about encountering the wonderful presence of Jesus Christ and walking together and bumping up into reality,” Bishop Raica says. There is a vital impact to the Church in reaching out to those on the margins and bringing the Gospel to all.

It is not easy to think about the poor, the homeless, the needy, the marginalized; it can make us feel uncomfortable. However, we must help others. 

A fable tells about a little bird lying on its back in the middle of the road with its feet up in the air. A fox happened to pass by and was intrigued when he saw the bird. “Why are you lying there in the middle of the road?” the fox asked. 

“I have heard a very reliable prediction,” the bird said. “The sky is going to fall today, and I am going to hold it up with my feet.” 

“Oh, you are, are you?” the fox laughed. “Do you really think that a little bird like you, with those tiny legs, can hold up the sky?” 

“One does what one can,” the bird responded. “One does what one can.” 

God is delighted by the souls who show mercy to their fellow men even by doing the smallest deeds of kindness to others. 

Sister Zephrina Mary, FIH, is director of the Diocesan Missions Office.