Gratitude motivates Miter Society donors to ‘share the harvest’

Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin offers words of welcome during a Mass for Miter Society members from the New Albany Deanery on Sept. 28 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in New Albany. (Photo by Jolinda Moore)

By Patricia Happel Cornwell (Special to The Criterion)

NEW ALBANY—“Our stewardship is not about one building on one hill in one county,” Linda West said. “[The] Catholic faith is universal. We have to open the doors and help everybody to come in.”

Linda and her husband Walter were among the 100 members of New Albany Deanery parishes who gathered at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on Sept. 28 for a Miter Society Mass and dinner. The Wests are members of St. Mary Parish in Lanesville.

Those who contribute $1,500 or more to United Catholic Appeal: Christ Our Hope (UCA) are considered Miter Society members.

Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin was the principal celebrant of the Mass. In his homily, he recalled the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and likened the buildings that collapsed under their destructive tension to “some people’s lives. If you watch TV commercials,” he said, “you’d think the goal of life is to avoid tension, but there is a tension that is creative. If we think about it, there is a tension between individuals and society, between mere human beings and the grandeur of a God who, nevertheless, becomes one of us, a little child.

“I believe that the essential element is to maintain a good tension. If you can’t live with tension, that is what heresies are,” he said. “Tension becomes creative when we stay with it and ask, ‘Lord, what do I put above you in my life? What keeps me from following you?’ ”

In his remarks at the dinner following the liturgy, Archbishop Tobin reflected on the importance of “sharing the harvest.” The goal of this year’s United Catholic Appeal is $6.4 million. The generosity of Miter Society members has accounted for 40-45 percent of the money raised by the campaign in recent years. In 2015, more than 1,000 Miter Society members gave $2.64 million of the $6.2 million raised through the UCA.

In the archdiocese, UCA funds currently support the formation of 15 seminarians and 21 permanent deacon candidates, the retirement of more than 40 priests, and the education of 24,000 children in Catholic grade schools and 15,000 in religious education programs. Other archdiocesan services supported include youth ministries, the Office of Pro-Life and Family Life, and Catholic Charities agencies.

The archbishop noted, “Without the good works of St. Elizabeth’s [Catholic Charities] in New Albany and Catholic Charities in Tell City, many people would struggle just to get the basic necessities of life.” The New Albany agency alone assisted 750 families, including 248 children, last year.

Also attending the Miter Society Mass were Earl and Jani Book, members of St. Michael Parish in Bradford, where they were married 63 years ago.

“We’ve been active in St. Michael’s all our lives,” Earl said. “We appreciate the archdiocese sending us good priests all these years. We feel like we’ve been blessed, and for that reason we support the archdiocese. The Lord’s been good to us. We’ve had good health and a better than average income, and we want to give back.”

Gratitude also motivates Richard and LaVerne Smith, longtime members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, where LaVerne attended grade school.

“There have been rough spots,” Richard said, “but overall we’ve had a blessed life. Giving back is just the right thing to do.”

LaVerne added, “It is better to give than to receive, and we thank God for all our blessings.”

Lynn and Bill Hesse of Holy Family Parish in New Albany were younger than the majority of those in attendance.

“We are longtime advocates of Catholic schools, and vocations are important to us,” Lynn said. “We have five sons, and we believe in the future of the Church. And Catholic Charities is a very important umbrella [organization], whose work is near and dear to our hearts.”

Bill added, “We also want to support retired priests.”

Carl and Susie Schmidt, who have been members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish “forever” also attended the event.

“We think the archdiocese does good work,” Carl said, “and by supporting the archdiocese we also help support services in other poorer parishes.”

Susie, who attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, added, “We especially like to support the education of seminarians, and support retired priests and religious.”

Youths and seminarians were also on the minds of Dan and Anne Cristiani, who are members of St. John Paul II Parish in Clark County.

“Youths are a big thing for us,” Anne said. “We designate a lot of our charitable contributions to youths because we believe that’s the future of our Church, and we’re losing them.”

Dan noted the importance of both Catholic Charities and seminarian formation.

“The education of future priests is so important,” he said. “We are so blessed, that we want to pass it on.”
 

(Patricia Happel Cornwell is a freelance writer and a member of St. Joseph Parish in Corydon. To learn more about the Miter Society or to contribute to the United Catholic Appeal, go to www.archindy.org/uca or call the Office of Stewardship and Development at 317-236-1415 or 800-382-9836, ext. 1415.) †