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My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
During my Ad Limina Visit with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, on March 8th, I shared with him the challenges our diocese had experienced this past year with the flooding and related activity; and also the challenges we are facing caused by the expanding oil developments in western North Dakota.
I was amazed at our Holy Father's knowledge of what was happening in the "Bakken" as he called it. Pope Benedict spoke of the wonderful opportunities that lie in front of our diocese to spread the New Evangelization to not only the Catholics in our presence, but all of God's children in our midst.
The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth and proclaim the Gospel. As your Bishop, that is what I strive to accomplish by providing the educational, pastoral and religious programs and services to our parishes and parishioners. And in order to successfully undertake my ministry, I must rely on our parishioners for their financial support to our Annual God's Share Appeal.
On March 19th - 22nd, I invited the priests, deacons, parish staff and parish finance council members regional Deanery Meetings to begin the formal preparation plans for our 55th Annual Appeal which will be conducted in every parish on May 5th and 6th.
The God's Share Appeal is the financial life-line of the diocesan annual operating budget as it provides 77% of the revenue. Because of its importance, it is important that each parish begins its preparations at this time.
The God's Share Appeal enables the Church in western North Dakota to provide many programs and services, including the formation of our seminarians, the promotion of the dignity of life and marriage, and the Sunday Mass broadcast on TV two times per weekend for our sick and homebound parishioners. Each parish operating on its own can only do so much, but when parishes join together, linking all of the people of our Diocese together, we can meet the opportunities that Pope Benedict mentioned.
Please pray for the success of this appeal and be as generous as you can when your parish conducts the appeal on May 5th and 6th.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend David D. Kagan, D.D., P.A., J.C.L.
Bishop of Bismarck
Watch the 2012 God's Share Appeal video message from Bishop Kagan.
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The official site of the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota
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