In a letter to local Catholics announcing the Archdiocese of Washington’s 2021 Annual Appeal, Cardinal Wilton Gregory underscored the appeal’s theme, “Seeking Christ.” The cardinal also noted the subheading for the appeal, taken from Mark 1:37, “Everyone is looking for you.”

“Directed at Jesus, these are the first words spoken by Peter in the Gospel of Mark. They could easily be our own first words to Jesus,” the cardinal said in his letter in the brochure for the 2021 Annual Appeal, noting how in a world marked by so much suffering, people are looking for Christ.

The Annual Appeal, which provides essential funding for the Archdiocese of Washington’s educational and charitable outreach and supports more than 70 ministries in the archdiocese, will be launched in 2021 on the appeal’s announcement weekend, Jan. 30-31.

David Cook, the director of the Annual Appeal for the Archdiocese of Washington, also underscored how fitting this year’s theme is at a time when so many people have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and he pointed out that Peter’s words to Jesus, “Everyone is looking for you,” come from the Sunday Gospel reading on the appeal’s commitment weekend, Feb. 6-7.

“In this time of crisis and hardship, how true it is that everyone is looking for Jesus,” Cook said. “Seeking Christ is what unifies us as a Church. That’s our common ground. That’s our common mission.”

In his letter about the Annual Appeal, Cardinal Gregory noted the role that Catholics can play in bringing Christ to those in need.

“Together, nourished by the sacraments, we become Christ’s hands and feet, and with apostolic zeal reach out to all those suffering in body, mind and spirit… Through our collective prayer and sacrificial gifts, we can ensure all those Seeking Christ will find Him in our Church,” the cardinal said.

The archdiocese’s 2021 Annual Appeal has a goal of collecting $11.4 million in donations. The seven key types of outreach supported by the appeal include:

• Vocations, clergy and religious support, including vocations for men and women, seminarian education, the Saint John Paul II and Redemptoris Mater seminaries, the offices for consecrated life and permanent deacons, educational and spiritual programs for priests, and care for sick priests
• Catholic education and catechesis, including the Catholic Schools Office, the office for religious education and related programs serving parishes, programs for people becoming Catholic, and the administration for the Catholic Youth Office
• College, hospital and prison ministries, including the campus ministries at the University of Maryland, Howard University, George Washington University, Gallaudet University, American University and St. Mary’s College; and Catholic ministries at local hospitals and prisons
• Pro-life and evangelization ministries, including the Youth Rally and Mass for Life, parish pro-life outreach, St. Ann’s Center for Children and Families, Project Rachel for those grieving abortions, the Affirming Life Initiative for parents facing difficult pregnancies, and evangelization programs like The Light is On for You initiative promoting the sacrament of Confession and Find the Perfect Gift encouraging people to draw closer to Christ during the Advent and Christmas seasons
• Pastoral and social ministries, including the Family Ministry Office, young adult ministry, the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach, programs for Hispanic Catholics, ministries to African Catholics, special needs ministries, and the St. Francis Community for the Deaf 
• Communications outreach, including the Office for Communications, digital media, multi-media production, the TV Mass, and the Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, the largest non-governmental social services provider in the metropolitan area

The Annual Appeal’s brochure notes that 100 percent of donations to the appeal are “restricted to the programs and ministries that are a part of the Annual Appeal and will not be used for any other purpose.”

The brochure for the 2021 Annual Appeal of the Archdiocese of Washington highlights the theme, “Seeking Christ,” and uses an image of Jesus the Good Shepherd from a stained glass window at St. Peter Church in Waldorf, Maryland. (Design by Georgina Stark/Archdiocese of Washington)

Cook noted that “the Annual Appeal is an extension of parish life. All these ministries, such as seminary education and catechesis, in the end benefit and support parish life in ways parishes cannot support on their own.”

For example, the appeal helps support the seminary education for the next generation of priests who will provide the sacraments to people at parishes at all stages of their lives. Similarly, the appeal’s funding for the archdiocese’s Catholic Schools Office and the Office for Catechesis make it possible for those offices to provide essential support to local Catholic schools and parish religious education and faith formation programs.

Cook noted the strong generosity of local Catholics during 2020 toward the Annual Appeal and other archdiocesan and parish programs as the coronavirus pandemic impacted so many people. 

That generosity shows they see the Church as “an essential institution in a time of crisis” and wanted to help its efforts to meet the spiritual, sacramental and physical needs of people during the pandemic, Cook said.

In a Jan. 15 email, Joseph Gillmer, the Archdiocese of Washington’s Executive Director of Development, said nearly $10.4 million had been received from 33,000 donors by that point for the 2020 appeal, with more expected that month. 

“Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the Annual Appeal pausing for two months while the entire archdiocese focused efforts to boost support for local parishes, contributions to the 2020 Annual Appeal exceeded the previous year by $164,919 (1.5%). Further, the number of gifts in 2020 exceeded 2019 by 3,738 – a 13% increase!” Gillmer said, adding, “I am in awe of the generosity through the most trying circumstances of our lifetimes.”

Gillmer also noted that beyond the Annual Appeal, the faithful throughout the Church of Washington responded generously during the pandemic in supporting local parish offertories, the Needy Parish Fund and the Community Food Security Program.

More than 1,500 donors provided $250,000 for the Needy Parish Fund. The archdiocese’s Community Food Security Program (formerly known as the Parish Pantry Support Project) received $550,000 in support in the last six months. That program provided 87 grants to 46 parishes and schools and has the resources to continue to support local food pantries through this winter and spring. More than 1,800 people in the archdiocese also donated $323,864 to more than Catholic causes as part of the #iGiveCatholic national day of giving on Dec. 1.

“The faithful of the Archdiocese have been incredibly generous in a time of challenge and uncertainty,” Gillmer said. “The faithful demonstrate time and time again that they are ready to respond if we, as a Church, articulate the need and provide the opportunity.”

Appeal’s impact on one ministry

In a Jan. 26 online presentation to Archdiocesan Pastoral Center employees about the 2021 Annual Appeal, John Capobianco – the director and producer of the Sunday TV Mass – spoke about the impact that appeal donations have on that ministry.

The Sunday TV Mass, begun in 1952 to bring the Mass to the elderly and shut-ins, has had a significantly broader reach during the pandemic for individuals and families unable to attend Mass in person. The joint production of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, filmed at the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in 2020 had 3.5 million views on YouTube and more than one million total viewers on its 10:30 a.m. Sunday broadcast on Channel 50, Capobianco said.

Capobianco, who has worked on the Sunday TV Mass for the past 33 years, said he realized it is much more than a TV program for the people who are able to view the Mass that way. That ministry reflects the Annual Appeal’s theme, helping “those seeking Christ to find him” through the televised Mass, Capobianco said, noting how he once witnessed his wife’s grandmother intently watching the TV Mass at her home, her hands folded in prayer as she joined along in the prayers of the Mass.

In addition to its broadcast on Channel 50, the Sunday TV Mass can be viewed anytime  on the Archdiocese of Washington’s website at https://adw.org/parishes-masses/sunday-tv-mass/ and on the National Shrine’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/marysshrine .

Perspective of Appeal supporters

Also in the Jan. 26 Annual Appeal online presentation, Deacon Eric Simontis, the Chief Financial Officer for the Archdiocese of Washington, said he supports the appeal because he believes “it is an essential component of our faith,” to share the gifts God has given us. He said people unable to support the appeal financially can pray for its success and for the ministries it supports.

In an earlier email interview, Joe Rogers, a member of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament who is serving on the Annual Appeal’s Advisory Committee, said he remembered the words of a visiting Irish priest who encouraged people to watch out for Jesus in the crowd. And he said he also remains inspired by the late Cardinal James Hickey, the former archbishop of Washington, who said that we serve those in need “not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.”

“In a time when so many of us are not out in the community due to the pandemic, perhaps this year more than others it is doubly important to support those in need even if we do not see them directly. And that is what the Appeal does,” Rogers said.

Father Michael King, the pastor of Jesus the Good Shepherd Parish in Owings, in an email said the Annual Appeal “makes me think of so much I already have to be thankful to God for that I so often take for granted.”

The Calvert County pastor noted that his parish has a twinning relationship with a parish in Haiti, and he has witnessed the grueling poverty there. Local Catholics can help to the poor in the Washington area and bring Christ to them by supporting the Annual Appeal and its works of charity, he said.

“Together, the 2021 Annual Appeal unites the Archdiocese of Washington as one family,” he said.

Catholics can support the 2021 Annual Appeal by visiting appeal.adw.org or by responding to the mailing sent in January.