'What We've Accomplished Together' brings leadership together for 40th anniversary of DDD

Intermountain Catholic

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SANDY — "What We’ve Accomplished Together" is the name of a DVD making appearances at a Catholic parish near you. The celebratory production for the 40th anniversary of the Diocesan Development Drive (DDD) was produced by Diocesan Vicar General Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, written by DDD Director Shannon Lee, and filmed and edited by Cris Paulsen. With an archival interview with the late Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal, founder of the DDD in 1966, and interviews with Bishop William K. Weigand of Sacramento, Calif., the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s seventh bishop, and Archbishop-designate George Niederauer of San Francisco, Calif., our eighth bishop, "What We’ve Accomplished Together" is a valuable historical tool tracing not only the history of the annual fund drive that supports the bishop’s ministries, but a dramatic look at the last 60 years of diocesan history.

The DVD was the pivotal point of a meeting of the Bishop’s Leadership Society Jan. 22 at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Sandy. With an introduction by Msgr. Fitzgerald, DDD leaders from across the diocese were reminded how far the diocese has come since Bishop Federal, Msgr. Fitzgerald, the late Msgr. John Hedderman, and others made the rounds of wealthy parishes in the Eastern states, in what Bishop Federal called "the tin cup ministry" to raise funds to support the mission Diocese of Salt Lake City.

More than 80 people viewed the DVD, reminiscing about the earlier years of the diocese, and marveling about the progress that has been made and the plans for the diocese’s future.

Msgr. Fitzgerald recalled making a door-to-door canvas of Helper in the early 1960s, not only to raise funds, but to get an accurate count of the number of Catholics in the area.

The first Diocesan Development Drive raised far more funds than its goal of a modest "100,000, Msgr. Fitzgerald said. Articles in the Intermountain Catholic revealed the first drive netted $270,000.

"It spoke of new confidence and new strength in the diocese," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "Like the 1976 diocese-wide gathering to celebrate this country’s bi-centennial, it gave us the courage to continue in the valuable work of evangelization and meeting the needs of others inside and outside the Church."

The Diocesan Development Drive begins its second 40 years with three main goals, to evangelize, to teach stewardship in order to meet the needs of the diocese in the future and in the Church at large, and to emphasize what it means to be Catholic.

"We sacrifice in many ways," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "And we leave the Church in Utah stronger than we found it."

The Diaconate program that has brought many new faces into ministry throughout the diocese was one of the many important areas of growth supported by the DDD. Now the drive continuously supports all of the bishop’s ministries from Catholic schools to prison ministry to Religious education to Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Rural missions, some of them with lay administrators, couldn’t exist without DDD funding.

Bishop Niederauer thanked the parish representatives who each year spearhead the Diocesan Development Drive, giving talks after Masses and to separate parish organizations, encouraging pledges from those who have been faithful DDD donors and new donors as well.

"People have often commented on the miles I have traveled as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City," Bishop Niederauer said. "I remind them that while I’ve traveled those miles in on paved roads in an air conditioned car, our first bishop, Lawrence Scanlan, traveled rugged paths on horseback."

He reminded those present of the story of the soldiers in France who, during World War II came across a damaged statue of the Sacred Heart. They were able to repair the statue, except for the hands, which were missing. So they hung a sign on the statue that read: "He has no hands but yours."

"We are the face of the church now," bishop Niederauer said. "We are the Church of the future. Tradition is thrown and caught, and we are the throwers and the catchers of the traditions of stewardship and giving."