By Susan Gallagher

Small, financially struggling parishes in the Diocese of Helena are submitting proposals for a new cycle of grants through Catholic Home Missions, part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

CHM grants help Sacred Heart Parish in Ronan reach out to people through group meals and other gatherings tied to the liturgical seasons. At St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Whitehall, the grants support family nights that take place four times a year and strengthen involvement in Catholic community life. CHM money also has helped Whitehall children attend the Diocese of Helena’s annual junior high rally.

“It’s called a parish subsidy, and it truly is the piece that makes it possible to cover parish expenses,” said diocesan Stewardship Services Director Glenda Seipp, who is preparing to submit parishes’ proposals for upcoming grants. Those proposals, which Seipp had asked to receive by mid-March, are due at CHM offices by April 1. About 20 parishes got grants for 2010.

The Diocese of Helena typically receives more dollars from CHM than parishes in the diocese give through the annual CHM appeal held nationwide. Consider 2009, when diocesan parishes gave about $19,300, but CHM grants totaled $95,000. Numbers for the previous year were similar. Since 1984, CHM has given nearly $1.6 million for use in the Diocese of Helena, according to the diocesan Financial Services office.

Each September, the national collection is taken up in the Diocese of Helena.

CHM dates to the 1924 founding of the American Board of Catholic Missions.

“For many decades, the Church in the United States has sent missionaries overseas to serve the people of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says on its website. “The Home Missions are dioceses and parishes here in America that need the same kind of support.” The annual CHM collection in the diocese is set for Sept. 5.

At Ronan’s Sacred Heart, which together with St. Joseph Mission in Charlo serves 110 families, gatherings funded by CHM often relate to home-based religious studies. People at these gatherings have spanned the generations, and include some young catechumens’ parents who have been inactive in the Church. The message conveyed to them is “come see what it means to be family, the family of the Church,” said Sister Barbara Brown, the parish administrator.

Parents providing religious education at home “appreciate a time when their children get together with other Catholic children. The parents want to connect with other parents, as well,” said parishioner Dana Brown, a mother of nine who lives on a farm near Ronan. “It’s an open door to say, `Yes, we are Catholic, too.’”

Brown, no relation to Sister Barbara, added that gatherings such as the parish’s Seder meal give inactive Catholics a comfortable opportunity to “just come and connect” without feeling they are approaching a recommitment about which they may be unsure.

At St. Teresa of Avila in Whitehall, uses of the most recent CHM grant, for $4,000, have included aid for the religious education program. Like Sister Barbara at Sacred Heart, Father Dan Driscoll at St. Teresa says the parish is enormously grateful for the money and would face a difficult gap without it.

CHM dollars also have strengthened religious education at St. Joseph Parish in Choteau. In a report on the parish’s 2007-08 use of a $3,750 grant, parish representatives Julienne Graham and Frankie Hanson explained the services provided and said Mass attendance by those served had become more regular.

“We have seen an increase in Mass attendance and volunteer availability,” the report said. “The programs are developing both Catholic identity and community. Many families have benefited because of the programs, and their faith life is helping them to cope with daily situations in a positive way. Overall, the program is strengthening our communities and will continue to grow with the help of the CHM grant. Thanks to your support, we are going to continue our life of faith together.”


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 3, March 19, 2010.