Called to Renew Campaign Update

Lenten Reflections

“Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made Him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says:

In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2

With the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday we reflect on the reading from 2 Corinthians, reminding us that as the faithful, we are ambassadors for Christ. God appeals to others through us and we must be close to the Lord ourselves for him to reach others.

This reading mirrors the way we campaign so faithfully: as members of our parish’s Campaign Executive Committee, we become ambassadors for Christ in this Campaign. God appeals to the generosity of our brothers and sisters through us, and we surround our Campaign in prayer and entrust this entire process to the Lord who will make it successful.

Lent is an opportunity for the transformation of our hearts and for a tangible return to the Lord. Similarly, the Campaign is going to bring transformational change in our parishes and in the greater Church in Los Angeles so that we can inspire many in our communities to return to the Lord.

With ashes, we outwardly showed our inward desire to repent and return to the Lord. We will make this a reality for ourselves with our continued prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we dive into Lent over the next 40 days, let’s continue to invest in the success of the Campaign by praying, fasting, and giving sacrificially, so that the transformational change we are working for can become a reality in our parishes and in the Greater Church in the years to come.

Mother of Sorrows goes over their $240,000 Campaign goal
Mother of Sorrows in Los Angeles has officially surpassed their original goal of $240,000 by $40,000! Congratulations to Fr. Brian Chung for another great week of work solidifying $79,500 in pledges this week towards bettering their parish community. Fr. Brian is committed to working continuously with his parishioners to further the amount of gifts that come back to his parish - even more so now that they have exceeded their original goal. Fr. Brian has since set an enhanced goal for the Campaign of $300,000, and is on track to exceed his new goal. Thank you for your continuous hard work, Fr. Brian and congratulations on another exciting week!

Sagrado Corazon y Santa Maria de Guadalupe surpasses 50% of goal!
Congratulations to Fr. Miguel Angel Gutierrez from Sagrado Corazon y Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Cudahy for a very successful start to the Campaign! Fr. Miguel, along with his parish community, raised $83,000 this week, which brings them to 50% of their $165,000 Campaign goal. We congratulate Fr. Miguel and his community for this wonderful accomplishment!

St. Basil goes over 40% of their goal
St. Basil in Los Angeles has gone over 40% of their $290,000 goal. This brings them to a total of $123,400 from 15 pledges, which is 43% of the goal. Msgr. Francis Hicks and Dn. Tom Brandlin are busy reaching parishioners at St. Basil to inform them about how the Campaign will help their parish. The word is already getting out about the benefits that the funds raised from Called to Renew will bring to St. Basil and some parishioners are taking initiative and are personally scheduling their visits with Msgr. Frank or Dn. Tom. With the enthusiasm building, the momentum at St. Basil is sure to continue to grow

Immaculate Conception Monrovia raises almost $300,000!
Congratulations to Fr. Joachim Lepcha at Immaculate Conception in Monrovia for raising over 25% of their $1,090,000 goal in one week. Father has raised a total of 16 gifts to date. Good luck to Fr. Lepcha and his committee in the weeks ahead and keeping this momentum!

Our Lady of Lourdes in Northridge raises $291,000 in first two weeks
Fr. David Loftus from Our Lady of Lourdes is off to a good start by raising $291,000 from eight pledges. This brings his total to $306,000 from nine pledges, which is 13% of their $2.3 million goal. Fr. David is excited to see the enthusiasm people express when he tells them about how the Campaign will benefit Our Lady of Lourdes. He is quickly filling up his schedule to meet with parishioners and there is no doubt that his enthusiasm is contagious and will continue to power the Campaign to its goal!

Campaign Progress Updates

The Called to Renew Campaign is experiencing great success! These numbers are updated as of 10:00 a.m. on February 28, 2020.

To date, the Campaign has raised $356,864,904 of the Campaign goal. Listed below is the progress of our Pilot, Wave 1, and Wave 2 Parish Campaigns.

Following Up

The goal of the campaign is to receive a decision from every Catholic household in the Archdiocese. To make this process as easy as possible, please remember to schedule a follow-up visit at the end of your initial meeting. This will create a sense of urgency in receiving the decision and importance to the gift. Also, it will limit the number of additional phone calls our ambassadors need to make.

A simple solution is to schedule the follow-up meeting the next week -- on the same day, at the same time as the initial meeting. If the prospective donor needs to cancel this meeting, that is fine. In order to cancel, they must call the ambassador and a rescheduled date can be decided at the same time!