By Barb Arland-Fye
More than $1.5 million has been sent to 80 parishes and the Newman Catholic Student Center in Iowa City as the first installment of their share of the Davenport Diocese’s Capital Campaign. Five of the parishes, which served as pilot parishes for the successful $22 million campaign, received their first checks — a total of $166,152 — in July. Checks to the other parishes and the Newman Center — a total of $1,338,789 — were mailed this week, said Sister Laura Goeken, OP, the diocese’s development director. (See the end of this article for a link to a chart showing each parish’s share of campaign funds.)
Funds from the capital campaign are being collected and distributed over a five-year period; parishes’ share of the funds will be distributed every six months through the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of Davenport, which manages financial gifts to the diocese. Each parish will receive 20 percent of payments up to its campaign goal and 50 percent of payments exceeding the goal. Parishes also will receive 20 percent of major gift payments, which Bishop Martin Amos and major gift committee members solicited.
Many of the parishes plan to use their share of the campaign funds for building maintenance and improvements, debt payments, future projects or for emergency funds, according to reports they submitted to the diocese. St. Patrick Parish in Georgetown is putting its funds toward the cost of its 150th anniversary celebration, and St. Peter Parish in Lovilia toward the cost of its centennial year special event. St. Alphonsus Parish in Mount Pleasant plans to tear down or renovate its old church building.
Kitchen renovations, improvements or updating are in the works for Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bettendorf, Our Lady of the River Parish in LeClaire and St. Mary Parish in Nichols. St. Mary Parish in Oskaloosa will spend a portion of its funds on “much-needed personnel — DRE/Youth Minister and Pastoral Associate,” according to its report. St. Mary Parish in Oxford also plans to develop a comprehensive religious education program and strengthen its youth group, among other projects. And St. Andrew Parish in Blue Grass plans to establish a vocations fund with a portion of its campaign money.
In addition to benefiting individual parishes, funds from the Diocesan Capital Campaign covered the purchase and renovation of diocesan headquarters in Davenport and will provide support for clergy, seminarians, schools and diocesan ministries. The campaign differed from the Annual Diocesan Appeal, which raises money for the diocese’s day-to-day operations. “Campaign monies will be invested over the long term in socially responsible funds and only the income from the invested funds will be spent each year to support diocesan ministries, said Char Maaske, chief financial officer for the diocese. “It will also help reduce the reliance on the Annual Diocesan Appeal funds.”
Sr. Goedken said St. Mary Parish in Riverside folded its diocesan campaign goal into its own capital campaign and agreed to pay the entire goal to the diocese. Any payments over diocesan goal are returned in full to the parish. Three parishes and the Newman Catholic Student Center did not conduct a full campaign, but agreed to pay their diocesan goal in full and will receive 50 percent of payments over their goal. “I think all of the parishes that participated in the Moving Forward in Faith and Hope Campaign will be pleasantly surprised by the size of the checks they’re receiving,” she said.
Parishes’ share of diocesan capital campaign funds paste http://www.catholicmessenger.org/content/current/displayads/parishcampaignshare.pdf
