The 2013 Diocesan Support Appeal begins the first weekend in February with a call to put our love for God and others into action. The DSA video will be shown in the parishes of our diocese over the next couple of weeks; all registered parishioners will receive a letter from Bishop Jugis with an attached pledge form, brochure, and reply envelope. The February 1st issue of the Catholic News Herald has a special pull-out section devoted to the DSA.

Watch the DSA video on our diocesean YouTube channel.

You can contribute to the DSA at our secure website

https://charlottediocese.thankyou4caring.org/DSADonations

Do your parish stewardship efforts need to be renewed? Are you looking for some best practices from other stewardship parishes? Would you just like to renew your own personal commitment to stewardhip as a way of life? If your answer is "yes!" then...

We cordially invite you to attend the 12th Annual Regional Stewardship Day Conference on Saturday, April 27, 2013.

This collaborative effort, hosted and sponsored by the Dioceses of Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh, Savannah, and the Archdiocese of Atlanta is an outstanding opportunity to interact with stewards and parishes from across the Southeast!

The Most Reverend Robert F. Morneau, Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin will deliver the keynote address. His focus will be on the spirituality of stewardship. He is an internationally known speaker on stewardship, and will surely inspire us all.

Check this website often for updates on conference breakout sessions, biographies of speakers, and many more details.

Breakout speaker, Tracy Earl Welliver, Pastoral Associate at St. Pius X in Greensboro, NC, will address the topic of Catechesis for a New Generation of Stewards.

This session will focus on stewardship catechesis, especially for our younger generations of Catholics. If we want to help build a strong community of stewards who truly internalize the message, we must pay close attention to how we catechize. Twenty years from now we want the progress made in this area to remain. This means touching the hearts of youth and young adults now with the stewardship message.

Read more about Tracy and his work at Pius X, as well as in Australia and New Zealand in the Catholic News Herald.

(Click here) to download a PDF of the Registration Brochure.

The Collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious will be taken in every parish the weekend of December 8-9.

This important collection addresses the significant lack of retirement funding for Catholic sisters, brothers and priests in religious orders. The National Religious Retirement Office coordinates the annual collection and distributes the proceeds to religious communities in need.

Currently there are more than 34,000 religious past the age of 70 living in the United States, and the average annual cost for their care was over $37,000 per person. In 2011 alone, the total cost to support senior women and men religious exceeded $1.1 billion.

By 2022, retired religious are projected to outnumber wage-earning religious by nearly four to one. Most of their lives these elder religious worked for small stipends. They were the teachers, nurses, and social workers who served you and your families. Click Here to learn more about the Retirement Fund for Religious. Then please be generous to the second collection which will be held in your parishes on December 8-9.