Executive Director of the Office of Development and Stewardship We are embarking on a campaign in an effort to plan for our future to ensure a stable and strong Catholic faith for the Archdiocese of Mobile for generations to come. After a feasibility study indicated an overwhelmingly positive response, the Generations of Faith — Endowing Our Future with Hope campaign was piloted last fall in nine archdiocesan parishes with incredible success.
Through this endowment campaign we hope to raise a minimum of $30 million over five years to strengthen the Church and fund endowments that will support seminarian formation, priest retirement and youth ministry at the local parish level. Additionally, the parishes will retain 20 percent of their achieved goal for defined parish needs.
The challenge we face is simple, expenses are on the rise. The income to cover these costs comes from each parish as a percentage of offertory. Another source of income is needed without affecting our parishes. This campaign will allow us to create three endowments to fund these needs forever. These three endowment funds are built to use the gains from their investments. The gains made from these investments are then used to grow the initial investment and to fund each endowment’s needs. The initial investment will never decrease as only the interest gained will ever be disbursed.
In February 2020 another 37 parishes launched the Generations of Faith — Endowing Our Future with Hope campaign. Due to COVID-19, the campaign slowed down until June when they resumed campaigning. The final group of parishes will kick off this fall. We have achieved 56 percent of our overall goal in pledges. See page 15 for each parish’s interim progress report. Please know that each of your pastors needs your help with the campaign. I ask you to please pray about using your time, talent and treasure to help Generations of Faith succeed.