Bishop’s Leadership Society celebrates 20 years of financial support for the diocese

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Shannon Lee, director of the Office of Stewardship and Development, hosted the 20th anniversary celebration for the Bishop’s Leadership Society, which was begun in 2004 under the guidance of the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City.

SALT LAKE CITY — With good food and live music, the diocese celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Bishop’s Leadership Society, whose members  each contribute more than $1,000 yearly to the Diocesan Development Drive.

The DDD is the annual bishop’s appeal; donations fund the diocese’s 31 ministries, programs and services, which include seminarian education and faith formation.

“Tonight we honor our community; we honor the Catholic community for the tremendous – and I would say awesome – accomplishments of the past 20 years,” said Bishop Oscar A. Solis at the Aug. 10 event, held in St. Vincent de Paul Parish’ Holy Family Hall.

For the occasion, “I believe it is right and good to look back on where we started, and where we are today,” said Shannon Lee, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development. She was working in the DDD office in 2003 when Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, then the diocesan vicar general, decided to create the Bishop’s Leadership Society because he had a sense “that this particular group of parishioners was going to play a central role in the diocese in the years to come, and we needed to steward this group,” Lee said.

The BLS was formed in January 2004 under the guidance of the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City. The group donated $520,871 to the diocese that first year.

The amount of donations has increased steadily since then; in 2022 the members of the BLS donated $1.15 million, more than half of the total given to the DDD last year.

The DDD met its 2022 goal “due to the members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society, the group of parishioners who Msgr. Fitzgerald and Bishop Niederauer back in 2004 decided was time to recognize on a much higher level; it was due to Msgr. Fitzgerald, who knew you were going to play a vital and central role in the mission of the Catholic Church in Utah in years to come, and that time is now,” Lee said.

She thanked those present, adding that the statistics show how “now, more than ever, you are vital to the mission of the Catholic Church in Utah.”

As part of the evening, Casey Pond, a St. Olaf parishioner who has been a member of the Bishop’s Leadership Society since the beginning, spoke about why she donates.

Pond said that before being asked to make the presentation she had never thought about why she gives to the Church, but “it’s what you do. It’s what I do, it’s what we all do because it’s the right thing to do. We want the Church in Utah to thrive, to continue its rich history of being vital presences in our communities, and to lead by the example of living out Christ’s teachings. We want the Church for our children, we want the Church for the future, we want the Church to grow. We’re Catholic, and willingly giving to our parishes, to our diocese and to our other charitable causes is what we do.”

Pond noted that “realistically, not all of us personally profit from every ministry supported by the Diocesan Development Drive,” but that every Catholic benefits from at least one: the priests.

“And more importantly, as Catholics we should support the ministries that serve others – it’s not all about us,” she added. “We have to remember the other. We need to remember and perhaps remind the unwilling that we’re in this together; we’re fellow travelers on the same journey, and supporting the Church at large, contributing to the greater good, giving without requiring an itemization and allowing our resources to be used as the bishop sees fit is an act of faith and trust. We are blessed because we can contribute and share our gifts.”

Also speaking at the event was Father John Evans, pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Cottonwood Heights, who focused on gratitude. “I have a great gratitude towards everyone who comes together as the body of Christ who continues to help make the ministry of Christ happen, available, reaching out,” he said. “Thank you for what you do. Thank you for your generous spirit and your gratitude that you express in so many different ways. … You’ve done beautiful, good work. I hope we can continue to do it together.”   

Bishop Solis also expressed gratitude on behalf of himself, the diocese, his fellow priests and religious “for your tremendous generosity in support of the mission of the local Church here in Utah. The Church in Utah is fully alive because of the tremendous faith, the deep faith, of all the Catholics that constitute the Catholic Church in the Beehive State.”

The bishop thanked those present for their stewardship. “This is the essence of stewardship: sacrificial giving and joyful sharing of the blessings that God has bestowed upon each and every one of us. … It is an attitude of thanksgiving. It is an attitude of  deep faith and humility to recognize that everything we have, everything we receive are by God’s grace, freely given to us, not to be kept for ourselves but to be shared with others, especially with our brothers and sisters who are most in need.”