2009 DDD successful despite fewer donors

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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At the celebration dinner, diaconate candidate Doug Smith and his wife, Sherry, described the support they have been given through the Diocesan Development Drive. The Smiths are from St. Florence Mission.

SALT LAKE CITY — From support of the missions in rural Utah to the religious education in home parishes, the Diocesan Development Drive’s (DDD) funding touches almost every Catholic in Utah.

Raising those funds was difficult this year, acknowledged Shannon Lee, DDD director, during the Oct. 14 dinner celebrating the 2009 drive. “The economy is bad, health insurance has risen, people have lost their jobs and unemployment is on the rise.”

Nevertheless, the average pledge was up four dollars from last year. “Now, I know that doesn’t sound like a lot. However, think about what that means. With donors down 2 percent from last year, but the average pledge has gone up. How gratifying that is, when we sacrifice just a little bit more when others cannot.”

Among the ministries the DDD supports are candidates for the priesthood and the diaconate. The Salt Lake diocese has two candidates who will be ordained priests in January; there are 21 diaconate candidates. Deacons administer baptisms, officiate at funerals, witness marriages and visit the sick; in the absence of a priest they preside over Sunday celebrations.

Among the diaconate candidates is Doug Smith from the St. Florence Mission in Huntsville. He and his wife, Sherry, spoke at the celebration dinner.

Doug Smith has been studying for the diaconate for the past four years, “and without the Diocesan Development Drive, it couldn’t have been done,” said Sherry Smith.

“I’m going to run through a quick list of everything you’ve paid for,” Doug Smith said. “You’ve given us study notes — the big thick ones. Catechists that are difficult to read sometimes. Christian prayer books we have come to love. We’ve been given, each one of us, about 20 different file folders full of ecclesiology and eschatology, canon law – you name it. You’ve paid for that. Thank you very much.”

Also on the tab he enumerated were lecturers and, recently, five days with bishop at their ordination retreat. “There was a lot of money that went into our training,” Doug Smith said. “Hopefully, when we get ordained as deacons on Jan. 23, we will begin to pay back some of that money to you. We look forward to that opportunity to begin serving.”

Supporting the DDD is an important stewardship, said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Salt Lake Diocese. “Each one of us is called to serve by our Lord Jesus Christ” and the DDD ensures that all who are called to serve are given the opportunity.

“All of you can be very proud of the work you’ve done this year. It has been difficult, it has taken hard work, and extra work, but it also has been inspiring and gratifying. Thank you for your gifts to Bishop Wester, to the Diocese of Salt Lake City, to carry on St. Paul’s work of spreading the Good News,” Lee said.