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Father William Hann has shared his thoughts with the parishioners of Holy Cross and St. Patrick’s, Victoria in the video below.

Why is the Bishop's Appeal so important?

Your support of past Appeals has provided for the needs of many of our parishes and missions who have suffered financially this year.

Your Appeal gift provided the financial stability to ensure that all the parishes were taken care of in these extremely challenging times. YOU lifted all of us up this year!

Who would ever have guessed last year, that funds raised during the Annual Appeal, would have been used this year to buy COVID supplies for all our parishes? Signs, floor decals and communion plexiglass shields have been provided to all the churches.

The Diocesan office has responded quickly to help parishes navigate the changes the pandemic has brought, assisting with human resources issues and, when many parishioners expressed concern about how to maintain their weekly donations when the churches closed, the Diocese quickly set up e-transfer options and online giving protocols for parishes.

However, COVID has also brought considerable financial hardship. These Appeal funds have been the life line that provides funding for our retired clergy, the office of Religious Education and our First Nation’s ministry. Direct cash subsidies have been made available for small remote parishes and missions that required immediate operating funds.

Probably the biggest task of the Diocesan Finance team during COVID has been to plough through reams and reams of government paperwork. The Finance department has monitored, researched, and gathered all the parish information to ensure that everyone received the government subsidies. Saving each individual parish hours of work each month, the team was able to apply for the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy on behalf of all the parishes, to assist with payroll costs immediately and was able to get the funds to the parishes quickly, at a time when cash flow had almost dried up.

During the pandemic those at the Diocesan Centre, with the help of funds from last year’s Appeal, have worked hard to look after our parishes, so that our parishes can, in their turn, look after their parishioners, their employees and the vulnerable in their communities.

With your gift today we can continue that support and also help:

    ✞ Your local parish projects - for some right now these are basic operating costs.
    ✞ Your children's religious education - both in our Island Catholic Schools and in our ministries through catechism and youth leadership training.
    ✞ Your retired priests - to care for those who have devoted their lives in God's service.

We trust that through these difficult times you will draw strength from our collective efforts to keep everyone safe as we continue to journey together in faith and hope. We have all met with so many challenges these past few months, and now, more than ever, we need your financial support. Thank you for the gifts you are able to make to this year's Bishop's Appeal.