Happy Sunday! This week’s bulletin article is a written extension of the verbal announcement I gave
at each of the Masses last weekend regarding our yearly parish DSA commitment. I will flesh out
here a bit more on the subject, although you have already heard the basic nugget, so please exercise
your liberty to skip this article if you memorized everything I said last Sunday =).
DSA, as we well know, is the annual appeal that each parish in our diocese makes on behalf of the
Catholic diocese as a whole. This appeal fundraises the ongoing larger outreach of services and
initiatives that we as Catholics are only able to feasibly provide when we band together as a 77-
parish, 10-county region. Below are some examples of what the DSA helps fund each year [listed
here are programs and services which directly benefit St. John]:
- Seven locations of Catholic Charities (Jackson, Adrian, Owosso, Flint, Ann Arbor, Howell,
Lansing), which offer direct material support and faith-based counseling to the needy - Consecrated / Religious / Priestly vocational discernment, education, and formation
- Permanent diaconate formation
- Diocesan lay formation programs like the Called and Gifted workshop
- Annual High School Youth Conference, Middle School Youth Rally
- Annual Diocesan Youth Leadership Camp
- Annual Diocesan Women’s Conference, Diocesan Men’s Conference
- Diocesan Catholic school faculty retreats and formation
- Diocesan St. Francis Retreat Center and Bethany House
- 2018 Diocesan Assembly
- Direct parish funding for evangelization programs like:
- Alpha
- Evangelical Catholic
- Grow + Go
- Catholics Come Home
- Amazing Parish etc. (we participate in all of these evangelization initiatives)
What we’re asking of everyone this weekend is to prayerfully commit to a contribution toward our
diocesan-wide Catholic effort of bringing Jesus to our parishes and to the brothers and sisters in our
communities. In the letter that Fr. Chas sent to you all last week about this yearly appeal, he
mentioned—I agree with him wholeheartedly—that we have a generous faith family at St. Joseph
and St. John, which we all witnessed last year in our capital campaign. Thank you again and again
for such a glorious effort, we’re so enthused about all the good things to come of it. Respecting the
sacrifices that we’re all continuing to make on those pledges, this year’s DSA appeal, to the extent
that we’re all able, will be our parish contribution to the needs that move beyond our parish walls.
For the simple sake of anyone silently wondering what a ballpark contribution to DSA could look
like, I’m happy to share what I do. I tithe my yearly income, 10% of everything I earn or receive as a
gift goes to charity right off the top. I basically split that tithe three ways, 5% to this parish, 4% to
my other favorite charities, and 1% to DSA. I treat DSA as its own charity because I wholeheartedly
support its mission, and so I plan for it each year.
Clearly, our financial gifts to the Lord are a personal discernment, and I don’t offer any expectation
or pressure, only food for thought. Mine is simply one example of how one person has discerned
his financial giving. Be free! Offer to the Lord what you determine in prayer is honest and can be
joyfully given.
Continued Easter blessings to us all!
Fr. Brian