---

Diocesan officials have announced that the 2012 Bishop's Appeal raised $116,555 more than the previous year's campaign, closing out at $6,967,793.

"I'm amazed by the generosity of the [donors]," said Thomas Prindle, executive director of development for the Albany Diocese. He called this year's annual campaign, which is the main funding stream for the Diocese, a "smashing success."

There was a slight drop in the number of donors, according to Mr. Prindle, but 1,900 new donors were added to the rolls and there was a small uptick in the amount of the average gift. Like last year, only about three percent of pledges were uncollected; five years ago, this number was at 10 percent. Donor attrition was also at its lowest point in five years.

"Thank God for the people who are there, because they make everything possible," Mr. Prindle stated. "I don't think people can underestimate what the recession has done. I'm hoping [that] better days are here or coming."

One donor, he noted, sent the funds for an unpaid pledge from three years ago.

Gifts made to the appeal provide 70 percent of the support needed for the Diocese's ministries and programs to operate each year. These recipients include:

•  education, which receives 21 percent of appeal funding; this supports the diocesan Catholic Schools Office and the Office of Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life. In the past year, the OECFL launched a ministry for divorced and separated Catholics, holding support groups and planning more for the future. The marriage ministry also saw resurgence in its pre-Cana marriage preparation program; more parishes are starting marriage teams and programs. Mary Fay, associate director for marriage ministry and family life at the OECFL, provides trainings and enrichment materials and fields calls from hundreds of engaged couples and individuals looking for help with failing marriages. Her position is supported by the appeal. "I don't know how my work would get done [otherwise]," she said. The appeal also benefits the OECFL's parish evangelization team training and the Landings programs for fallen-away Catholics. The Catholic Schools Office provides support and guidance to 19 elementary schools and four high schools in the Diocese;

•  support services like information technology, stewardship, human resources, architecture, real property and more, which receive 25 percent of the funding;

•  pastoral services to apostolates and ethnic ministries, campus ministry, scouting, ecumenical activities, pastoral health care, communications and the Marriage Tribunal;

•  religious personnel development for the diaconate, formation for deacons and lay ministers, counseling and mental health services and support services for priests;

•  Catholic Charities, which serves nearly 100,000 people annually throughout its 15 community-based agencies; and

•  the Vocations Office, which provides discernment, educational programs and support for men and women called to a life in ordained or professed ministry. The office's Called by Name vocations promotion recruited more than two dozen men into discernment groups. There will be a similar process for men and women religious this fall.

The 2013 Bishop's Appeal will begin the weekend of April 27-28. See www.thebishopsappeal.org. [[In-content Ad]]

---