Catholic Home Missions Appeal is underway

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SALT LAKE CITY — The national Catholic Home Missions Appeal will be taken up the weekend of April 27.

The Diocese of Salt Lake City has 19 missions throughout the state, from Santa Ana Mission in Tremonton to San Pablo Mission in Beryl Junction.

At many of these missions, Mass is celebrated only once a week, and they are served by visiting priests who drive many miles to minister to them. The grants that finance them are possible through the annual fundraising campaign known as the Catholic Home Missions Appeal that supports pastoral services such as evangelization activities; religious education; training for priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and laity, as well as ministry with ethnic groups.

According to The Salt of the Earth by Bernice Maher Mooney, the Diocese of Salt Lake City began as a mission diocese when Father (later Bishop) Lawrence J. Scanlan told the Propagation of the Faith on Oct. 14, 1877 that "two priests were entirely inadequate for the work to be done in the Utah Territory."

Recently, the missions of Saint John Bosco in Delta, Holy Family in Fillmore and Saint Bridget in Milford suffered without a priest for several years, although they have had Communion services and a Mass celebrated about once a month. As of Oct. 1, 2010 Father Hernando Diaz was assigned as pastor of all three missions.

Every year Holy Family Mission has been able to celebrate Holy Week through the assistance of two Catholic sisters who come from Mexico, bringing educational resources as well.

"The presence of the nuns in the missions is thanks to the support and hard work from the community," said Father Diaz.

"The missions are the most important apostolic work in the Church. The Gospel tells us to reach out to all the people. I love missionary work because I can serve many people and I like going from here to there visiting families and working with immigrants," said Fr. Diaz, who goes south from Delta 75 miles to Milford on Friday and Saturday. Then he travels 40 miles to Fillmore to teach and help in several RCIA classes and to celebrate Mass. Afterward, he returns to Delta, where he lives in a small house, and returns once again to Fillmore Monday morning.

Other missions frequently receive visits from Maria-Cruz Gray, director of the diocesan Hispanic Ministries. Gray and her husband, Deacon Forest Gray, travel to Delta, Fillmore and Our Lady of the Light in Beaver as frequently as they can. They also go to Santa Ana Mission in Tremonton and Saint Jude Mission in Ephraim to teach catechetical formation and liturgical ministries.

"Delta is about 80 percent Hispanic, Beaver is 90 percent Hispanic, and San Isidro Mission in Elberta is 100 percent Hispanic. It is difficult to reach all of our brothers and sisters because of the 85,000 square miles in our diocese – all of Utah," said Gray.

The 2014 Catholic Home Missions Appeal "supports isolated, challenged parishes and missions in dioceses and eparchies across the United States and in several U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific islands, including Samoa Pago-Pago, St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico" reads the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops press release.

Forty-four percent of all dioceses and eparchies in the United States receive support from the appeal.

"The home missions require our attention every bit as much as the missions abroad," said Bishop Peter F. Christensen of Superior, Wisc., chairman of the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions in the press release. "Many Catholics don’t realize that their neighbors in the next dioceses do not have access to the same catechetical programs and Catholic schools that are available in a wealthier, more populous diocese."

Grants from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal help support 84 struggling dioceses and strengthen the Church here in the United States. "Every donation to this collection will help your neighbor to grow in his or her faith," said Bishop Christensen.