DDD 2013: 'Faith – An Experience of Love Received'

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — As the annual Diocesan Development Drive (DDD) gets underway, "Your generosity will make a real difference in the 30 ministries, programs and services which serve our Catholic community throughout Utah," wrote Bishop John C. Wester in his letter to parishioners. "I prayerfully ask you to participate and make your pledge today."

The DDD provides operating funds for all diocesan programs, including seminarian education for the seven men who are preparing for the priesthood in the diocese, and the new 19-member class in the permanent deacon formation program.

Only about 20 percent of registered parishioners throughout the diocese give to DDD, said Shannon Lee, director.

"One of our goals is always to have awareness of DDD’s mission and what it means to the diocese," Lee said. "We try and get the message out, because once people understand what DDD is for, and what it goes to, then people respond. They may not be able to give a lot, but they’ll give something, and that’s all we ask. But we have so many people who participate year after year after year, and those are the people who form the core of our donors."

Among those who regularly support DDD is Julie Boerio-Goates, parish coordinator for Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Orem. She also is president of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, which functions as an advisory board to Bishop Wester, and is an ex officio member of her parish’s stewardship council.

For Boerio-Goates, financially supporting the diocese is an extension of the Gospel call to be a good steward, which she says is about being grateful to God for his gifts. Expressing that gratitude can take many forms, she said.

She devotes time to the Church with her membership on various committees, and talent by teaching, "but it’s also about sharing money. That is one aspect of it," she said. "I try to look at it as ‘I’m doing those other things, but the reality is that the people of God, in order to move the Kingdom of God forward, you need resources, you need money."

The diocesan staff who run the Office of Hispanic Ministry, the schools’ offices and the other 28 diocesan programs need to be paid salaries and be given the resources to do their jobs, she added.

"I look at the contributions they make to the good of the Catholic Church in the state, and recognize that DDD is one way for me to help facilitate them in what they do," Boerio-Goates said. "If you don’t have a lot of money and you give $5, it’s still expressing commitment: It’s a commitment to the good of the Church in Utah, it’s a commitment to the diocese, it’s a commitment to helping other people. Maybe you don’t need anything right now, but it’s a commitment to making things better for other people."

Boerio-Goates also has a somewhat selfish reason to give: She is in her third year of the DDD-supported Lay Ecclesial Ministry formation program, "an avenue for me to be involved in learning more about the history of the Church, to be a better catechist, and to learn to be a better leader in the Church," she said. "And I have one last cynical reason. My attitude is, if I don’t contribute to the overall welfare of the diocese, then I can’t really expect to have any input into its direction. Whereas if people know that I put my money where my mouth is, then when I have a concern, I think I stand a chance of being heard, and that’s important to me."

The recent emphasis on stewardship throughout the diocese is the factor to which Lee attributes the success of last year’s DDD, which set records for both the number of pledges and the amount of payments.

"I think our diocese is embracing stewardship and they’re turning toward their churches," Lee said. "They’re becoming involved in the life and the mission of the church, and not just their parish but their sister parishes, the diocese, and their community."