The Georgia bulletin recently asked Father Donald G. Baribeau, MS, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna, and Father John P. Kelley, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Hartwell, to reflect on the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal and how it impacts them and the congregations they serve. Their responses are based on personal experience of the appeal in their years of parish service.

Parish Benefits

By Father Donald Baribeau, MS

As we prepare for the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal, I would like to share with you why this appeal is so important.

First of all, the words of the Apostle Peter come to mind: “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

As members of the Roman Catholic Church, it is our conviction that all we have is gift from a most gracious God. Our gifts, whether they be material or spiritual, are really meant for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

Secondly, it is important for us to remember that to be a member of the Roman Catholic Church is to be called into a universal church. Our resources are not meant just for the local community, but for the greater community as well.

The Archdiocesan Annual Appeal is an important reminder of our role in the greater church, which offers us ministries and resources the local community cannot provide on its own.

As pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna, I often call upon resources and ministries of the archdiocese for assistance. For example, a number of our parishioners are Nigerian and are occasionally without work permits. I am pleased to say that Catholic Social Services has always helped our parishioners obtain necessary work papers.

We also have a number of Hispanic members in our parish community. Once again, Catholic Social Services has been a great help. They have established a satellite office at one of our area schools to provide assistance to the Hispanic community in Cobb County. Catholic Social Services is also providing assistance to area clergy with courses in Spanish for celebration of Eucharist.

Another fine archdiocesan resource is the Office of Religious Education. The RCIA program thrives at Saint Thomas the Apostle, and I am indebted to the Office of Religious Education for their guidance and for the many workshops provided over the years in this developing area of parish life.

In addition, the Office of Religious Education has provided training for our parish catechists. They have given us needed direction and guidance in the realm of catechetical texts and have provided us with sound catechetical theory.

It was a member of the Office of Religious Education who facilitated our five-year parish pastoral plan.

Finally, I would like to share with you a word concerning the Archdiocesan Business Office. Pastors and their finance council are called upon to manage relatively large amounts of money. I am indebted to the Business Office for the sound financial guidance given to us, and, also, for the accountability demanded from us as stewards of our parish resources.

The preceding are but a few of the reasons why I feel the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal benefits the local church as well as allows the local church to contribute to the ministries of the archdiocese.

I am pleased to say that the parishioners of St. Thomas the Apostle have responded generously over the years to what, we feel, is a very important witness to the ministry of the Catholic Church, not only in Smyrna, but also to the Catholic Church in North Georgia.

Church Is Family

By Father John Kelley

When I preach the Annual Appeal to our parish in Hartwell, I must respond to the question, “How do the concerns of Atlanta concern us?”

The answer is that we are brothers and sisters with our Catholic brothers and sisters of North Georgia. They are part of the universal church which is flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone. In Jesus with the Holy Spirit, in view of our common baptism, confirmation and especially communion, we are one body.

The Annual Appeal is therefore an opportunity to reach out and serve Jesus who saves and serves our parish. This opportunity overcomes our temptation to overlook the needs of others because they are faint and distant. It gives a positive answer to Jesus when He says to us, “You do not understand now, but suffer it to be as I have said.”

We at Sacred Heart of Jesus at Hartwell are a great many things. We are old and young, sick and well. We are as human as can be.

We are retired in the city of Hartwell and along the shores of Lake Hartwell. We are farmers and have Farmer’s Mass on Wednesday nights to which real farmers come.

We live in mobile homes, brick houses and apartments. A few of our members live from Social Security check to Social Security check, making us just a heartbeat or a new law away from being homeless.

We share our Catholic faith and tradition in regular prayer services with our Christian neighbors. Our city has a food pantry and clothes closet and we take a regular turn at this common service to those in need.

We are open to every need to the extent we are able to seek to respect our friends, neighbors and enemies. Some, but not all, tell us they are from the North (wherever that is!).

We share and care. We laugh and weep. We live and we die. In all this, our parish is a comfort, a burden and a nourishing place where we seek to give life to this word of Jesus: “Love one another.”

We rejoice when our church is a living witness to Jesus and we are bruised when our church speaks to the world using the world’s words and convictions.

Above all, we discuss, plan, move, and live in the Holy Spirit because we would like it said of us, “See how they love one another and see how they enjoy being Catholic.”

The Appeal is an opportunity to fulfill St. Paul’s words, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” The Appeal makes alive a deep-felt desire to hear Jesus say, “Yes, you did it to me.”

We at Hartwell rejoice in the students studying for the priesthood. We know and find joy that Appeal supports the necessary seeking, finding and testing of these students from here and yonder.

We are quiet and prayerful in the face of our opportunity to support an office of ministry to the disabled Catholic. We would like our money to be spent to lift the awareness of the Church of North Georgia to God’s cry, “Let my people in, let my people worship and sing and be a gifted part of my body visible.”

We are Catholic and support the office for Black Catholics and the office for Spanish-speaking Catholics. Some wonder if they need an office and I say yes, trust me; they need offices like the wheel needs the axle. We are pro-support for all life.

My appeal for the Appeal is put this way: we owe everything to Jesus.

Jesus is not harsh or cruel. He only wants our best effort. If we can face Jesus in prayer and worship and answer, “I give to you with joy and peace,” then we will rejoice in our love for Jesus and His body.

Whatever it costs, I hear Jesus say, “Fear not, it is I.”