The Georgia Bulletin

Sat, May 17, 2008


What I Have Seen and Heard - Archbishop Gregory's Weekly Column

Print Issue: January 16, 1969

Goal Is Set For The Charities And Development Fund Drive

The goal has now been set for the Archdiocesan Charities and Development Fund Drive. The committee appointed by the Archdiocesan Finance Council has set the goal at $225,000.00. The drive is to take place on Sunday, March 9. It will be a one-day cash drive and will be organized in each parish.

Commenting on the goal, Archbishop Donnellan said “this goal will substantially help the many programs of education, of welfare, and of missionary activity needed in our young Archdiocese. Working together as we have done so well in the past, we can make a glorious success of this project and take a vital step forward in many areas of need.”

On Sunday, March 9, this drive requests that each wage earner in the archdiocese donates a minimum of $25.00 to the fund. Every parish will organize and solicit this amount on this one day. For some weeks prior to the March date, every pastor and his parish chairman will prepare the program for their own people.

Meetings have now been scheduled with the pastors and their parish chairmen. These meetings will take place the last week in January. Archbishop Donnellan will attend all of these meetings where the program and goals will be discussed. One meeting will take place in Rome, Georgia. Another two will be held in Atlanta.

Since North Georgia became a diocese in 1956, many drives have been promoted. However, this is the first non-pledge type drive. No pledges and no extended financial promises are requested in a program of this kind. Many dioceses in the southeast now annually promote this kind of financial program and they have found it most successful.

The committee appointed by the Archdiocesan Finance Council is now headed by Rawson Haverty, who is chairman of the council. The other members are Father Noel C. Burtenshaw, secretary of the council; G. Albert Lawton; Father John D. Stapelton; and Father Jerry E. Hardy. Paul Sauerburger, who was appointed chairman of the drive in November 1968, has since been transferred to New York where he has taken up a new position in the field of finance.