Vision for the Future-Mission for Today
Capital Campaign
The capital campaign is an effort to raise money in the short term (three to five years) to support an Endowment Fund for future use. For a Maronite Catholic diocese or parish, this refers to gifts and pledges over and above parishioners’ regular giving to the Sunday collection or annual appeals. Parishioners who make pledges to the Eparchy’s campaign will have three years to fulfill their commitment based on a schedule of their choosing, such as monthly, quarterly or annually.
The Vision for the Future – Mission for Today campaign is an extraordinary opportunity for all to play a role in strengthening the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles. This campaign is the first of its kind for any Eastern Rite Eparchy in the United States and the first for the Maronite Church worldwide. Our goal is to raise $15 million for the Endowment Fund to strengthen Missions, Ministries, and Ministers to fulfill our Eparchial vision and mission today, tomorrow and for generations to come. Your donations to this historic campaign will ensure all of our parishes and missions are strong both spiritually and financially. The campaign funds will help create new missions, provide coordination, support and training for parish-based ministries, educate our future priests, and care for our retired priests who faithfully served our parishes and families.
HEALTHY, VIBRANT PARISHES AND MISSIONS: $3 MILLION
One of the main priorities of the Vision for the Future – Mission for Today Capital Campaign is ensuring we have healthy, vibrant parishes – both spiritually and financially – in all our communities. Parish life is often the cornerstone of an ongoing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and continued growth is essential to the survival of the Maronite Church in America.
-Picture of St. Joseph Maronite Mission in Riverside, California
The primary mission of our Eparchy is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. This is what ministry is essentially about. The majority of this ministry takes place in our parishes. We are one church comprised of many parishes and missions and we must pool our resources so that we can provide vibrant ministries for the benefit of all parishioners and all people in our diocese. Our goal is to create an endowment that will provide on-going financial support to ensure the continuation, improvement, and growth of these ministries.
SEMINARIANS’ EDUCATION AND PRIESTS’ CONTINUING EDUCATION: $5 MILLION
A vocation to the priesthood is a priceless gift to the Church. Providing educational and financial support to seminarians as they seek to become priests helps ensure the ministry of priests to generations that follow. Funds raised will be used to help cover education and formation costs for diocesan seminarians. Today it costs a minimum of $45,000 per year for each seminarian and the average schooling includes at least five years of study. The current source of funding is not enough to meet the existing annual financial obligations, let alone prepare us for any future growth in vocations. It is imperative that our Eparchy ensure a strong supply of men for the priesthood to replace those that are retiring over the next decade as well as serve the new mission locations needed throughout the Eparchy.
PRIEST RETIREMENT & CARE OF CLERGY: $2.5 MILLION
The Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles is blessed to have such dedicated and loving priests. As leaders of our faith family, these men have kept our Eparchy vibrant and spiritual throughout their years of committed service. Because they have answered a call to serve us it leaves us with a clear moral obligation. We must ensure the most basic needs of our past, present and future priests are met. Our priests selflessly dedicate their lives in service to the Lord, caring for the People of God in times of joy and celebration, as well as times of great need and personal sorrow. We are committed to meet our ongoing obligation to care for clergy, especially those who may not be active in parish ministry. Funds will be allocated for spiritual development and ongoing formation of priests, as well as to assist priests who are not active anymore in parish ministry.
CHARITABLE OUTREACH AND MINISTRY TO OUR LOCAL, NATIONAL AND GLOBAL COMMUNITIES: $1.5 MILLION
Pope Francis has called for the Church to “go forth,” moving with love toward those on the margins. In order that we may continue to become a community which “goes forth,” to serve the people of God, our overarching goal will be to promote stewardship as a way of life, with this in mind we will dedicate 10 percent of the overall Campaign goal to charitable support within and outside our parishes. The plan is to fund an endowment designated for annual charitable outreach to those in need. These gifts given on behalf of the entire Eparchy could support countless projects and needs such as disaster relief, refugee services, homelessness, elder care, food pantries, emergency support for local families, medical support and research, and advocacy and social justice causes.