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| Monday, 05 February 2007 02:34 | |||
 Archbishop Henry J. Mansell There is a report elsewhere in this issue of The Catholic Transcript on the final results of the 2006 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, but please allow me this opportunity to express my pro-found gratitude and appreciation to you for the wonderful generosity you expressed so beautifully in your response to the Appeal. The results show a dramatic total of $9,002,616. Some 55,817 donors made an average gift of more than $161, a truly edifying amount as it continues to grow each year. The priests of the Archdiocese, from their personal funds, contributed more than $206,000, an increase of 17.8 percent over the previous year. I do not want to embarrass our priests, but I think it is important for us to know that their leadership by word is strongly supported by the sacrifice of their giving. We are abundantly blessed by the fiber of the priesthood in our Archdiocese. We are clearly all in this together. I understand that some of our faithful people are not able to make a financial donation, for various reasons, but, certainly, all of us offer our prayers for the success of the Appeal and the services it enables throughout our Archdiocese. Thanks to you, our core ministries consequently move forward with new energy and our new initiatives are coming closer to realization. Nothing is falling through the cracks. This is an important fact. We have not been talking pipedreams or mere velleities. And the monies you have been donating are serving as magnets to attract additional financial resources. Cathedral Green, the program to convert the old School of St. Joseph’s Cathedral into affordable and supportive housing, has been granted a $7.5 million bond from the State, and $500,000 in tax credits from Connecticut Light and Power. The Hispanic Family Institute, with $500,000 from the Appeal, has received a $2 million bond from the State for the construction of a new facility. The Malta House of Care, launched with $300,000 from the Appeal, continues to expand its services with its mobile van for people without health insurance and with increasing contributions from the Knights and Dames of Malta. St. Donato’s Church in New Haven, closed some time ago, is now being converted into a much- needed, state-of-the-art facility for Catholic Charities in New Haven. Seed money of $200,000 from the Appeal is now making possible a project costing more than $1 million. Many people are involved in these efforts, but I am particularly grateful to Rose Alma Senatore, CEO of Catholic Charities, for her unstinting work on so many of these challenges. The $900,000 in scholarship grants to students in every Catholic school in the Archdiocese continues to attract increasing numbers of matching grants: in Waterbury, New Britain, New Haven, Hartford, and elsewhere. There is contagious excitement around these developments, and our prayers, grateful prayers for you, are that the momentum continues to advance, to the service of God’s people. May God continue to bless us all! Catholic Schools Also in this edition of The Catholic Transcript, the Office of Catholic Schools, under the dynamic leadership of Superintendent Dale R. Hoyt, has published a four-page 2006 Annual Report. The purpose of the report is to provide readers with a picture of the developing culture of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese and a description of the services offered by the Office of Catholic Schools. I am deeply grateful to the priests, administrators, faculty members, and other school employees who safeguard and promote the distinctive mission of Catholic school education. They are to be commended for their commitment to weave together faith and knowledge, to cultivate in our students the intellectual, social, physical, creative, and aesthetic qualities that highlight the best of the human person, and to form children and young people to become spiritual leaders and productive moral citizens. I would like at this point to underscore the significant importance of Catholic school volunteers. They are making a telling impact on the progress of our schools. As members of school boards and committees, and as individuals, they are assisting in strategic planning, student recruitment, marketing, alumni programs, and fund-raising. Their hours of service are showing tangible results and fostering enormous good will in our communities. Parental support is crucial as well in the building of the partnerships between homes and schools. I encourage parents and guardians actively to support and participate in the Connecticut Federation of Catholic School Parents. This Federation is committed to educating Catholic school parents regarding the rights of children and young people attending Catholic schools. It works to protect, preserve, and expand those rights and to guarantee that students in Catholic schools are provided the public services to which they are entitled, to the full extent of the law. We are working for increased governmental aid to nonpublic schools in a variety of forms: investor and corporate tax credits, vouchers, transportation assistance, technology subsidies, library and text book support. Catholic schools provide incalculable benefits to our society. Increased governmental aid is more than appropriate. Once again, I express my profound sentiments of gratitude to all involved in serving, teaching, and volunteering your time, talent, and treasure to further the unique mission of Catholic school education.
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