Dinner thanks members of Bishop’s Leadership Society for their contributions to the DDD
SALT LAKE CITY — During a July 12 dinner at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society received thanks for their contributions and learned about some of the ways their donations help the diocese.
Anyone who donates $1,000 or more to the annual Diocesan Development Drive is automatically recognized as a member of the Bishop’s Leadership Society, said Shannon Lee, director of the Office of Stewardship and Development, which oversees the DDD. The annual DDD appeal raises funds for more than 30 diocesan ministries, programs and services for families, children and individuals throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City.
This year’s DDD quota is $2.72 million; each parish contributes to this overall total. Donations from parishioners, including members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society, goes to the DDD with credit to their parish or mission, Lee said.
“The members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society are a central part of the Diocesan Development Drive,” she added, noting that so far in 2024, contributions from the BLS are 52 percent of the overall donations to the DDD.
Among those attending the dinner were Bishop Oscar A. Solis; Msgr. Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general; Father John Evans, who will become the vicar general on Aug. 1; Fr. Kenneth Vialpando, vicar for clergy; Fr. Martin Diaz, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine; Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus; and several priests and seminarians of the diocese.
Fr. Samuel Dinsdale, pastor of St. Vincent’s, blessed the meal.
After dessert was served, Father Joseph Delka, director of the diocesan Office of Vocations, gave a brief biography of the seminarians who are studying to be ordained a priest for the diocese; 13 percent of the DDD goes to the formation of priests and deacons for the diocese. Among the seminarians attending the dinner were Kenneth Parsad, who is scheduled to be ordained a deacon in January; and Jaime Zuazo and Brian Schumacher, both of whom are scheduled to be ordained deacons next summer.
Fr. Delka thanked the members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society for their support of the DDD, “because your generosity plays a huge role in raising up this next generation of priests to preach the Gospel and shepherd God’s people in this place that we call home.”
Also attending the dinner was Father Anthony Shumway, who was ordained a priest by Bishop Solis on June 28 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Fr. Shumway told those gathered the story of his vocation and closed by saying that the last nine years of his life, which was spent primarily at the seminary, “would not have been possible without generous donors like yourself. If I had to take out the loans to pay for my schooling that I just completed, there is no way I would have had the courage to be able to step up to the Lord and say, ‘Yes.’ What you are doing, because of your donations, is making it possible for men like myself to say ‘OK, Lord, maybe you are calling me to the priesthood. I am willing to find out.’ We need your support so that your ‘yes’ can make our ‘yes’ possible. But even more important than your willingness to give us financial support is that of your prayers. I wholeheartedly believe that it is because of people like yourselves who pray for vocations that I had the courage to be able to say ‘yes.’”
Following Fr. Shumway’s remarks was a presentation by Michael Edwards, the new director of the diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
As he began his job this past January, Edwards discovered that, among the diocese’s 75 parishes, missions and stations, “we only have 28 active youth ministers,” he said, so this is an area that he is working to improve. One way he is doing this is to provide resources to the parishes to develop youth ministry, which is where the Bishop’s Leadership Society comes in, he said, because they help pay for these materials for the youth directors.
Among the youth activities that he has promoted this year has been the diocesan Blessed Carlo Acutis Apostolate, which was formed last year to help the youth deepen the practice of their faith. The apostolate has hosted several youth rallies around the state; these events include Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass and a lecture on Carlo Acutis.
His goals for the coming year include helping to form good youth ministers, he said. “One of the things we’ve got to do is to be able to bring in training for our youth ministers – training that they don’t have to pay for, that they can come to the diocese or we can go out to them and get them trained to be youth ministers to really take on this generation.”
It is because of the donations, the help and prayers of the members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society that “we are able to get these things done. … We couldn’t do this without you,” Edwards said.
In his closing remarks at the dinner, Bishop Solis echoed the thanks expressed by the other speakers. “I am so deeply indebted to all of you,” he said to those attending the dinner.
The Diocesan Development Drive is part of the art of Christian giving, of joyful giving and sacrificial offering, the bishop said. “You are not forced, and it is not an obligation to give, because the art of Christian stewardship is the art of giving from the heart … [and] a way to express the deep gratitude for the blessings that we all receive from God.”
The bishop urged those at the dinner to encourage other people to join the Bishop’s Leadership Society, whose contributions are a gift not only to the diocese but to the priests and deacons “who continuously serve the people of God every day.”
He closed by thanking the members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society. “You are not only benefactors and donors; in a real sense, you are our partners in our mission of evangelization in the local Church of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Utah,” Bishop Solis said.
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