By Susan Gallagher

When Izabella joined the John and Jeanette Risteau household 17 months ago, she was a newborn needing a permanent home and the Risteaus were a couple wanting to adopt.

“It was love at first sight,” says Jeanette, adding that at Bozeman’s Holy Rosary Parish, where the family worships, Izabella has become “pretty much the entire congregation’s baby. She’s like a little rock star.”

Izabella and the Risteaus were brought together with the help of Catholic Social Services of Montana. Its adoption work is assisted by the Annual Catholic Appeal, the financial campaign that helps support an array of services in the Diocese of Helena. ACA 2010, its theme “Light the Way,” kicks off on Oct. 9-10 with a fundraising goal of $1.7 million, the same as in 2009. The diocese looks to ACA, as it did the forerunning Diocesan Offertory Program, for one-third of the money needed annually for diocesan services.

ACA is “an opportunity to unite all the parishes into one diocese with a message that says, `We’re in this together,’” says Glenda Seipp, diocesan Stewardship Services director. “It’s an opportunity to help our neighbor.” ACA, says the campaign literature, is “designed not to serve the Church, but so that the Church can serve.”

Of the $1.7 million, 24 percent, or $407,000 is for support of Catholic formation. Its areas of outreach include religious education, youth and young adult ministry, the Catholic school system, Legendary Lodge, lay ministry formation and the Diocesan Resource Center.

Eighteen percent, or $287,800, of the money is designated for pastoral outreach; 16.5 percent, or $283,000, for support of vocations, priests’ assistance and formation for priests and deacons; and 14 percent, or $245,000, for social outreach. Joining Catholic Social Services of Montana in this area are the diocesan Marriage Tribunal; Project Rachel, providing post-abortion assistance; Protecting God’s Children, fostering safe environments for children; family and life ministry; the Montana Catholic Conference; and ecumenical programs in the state.

ACA also supports diocesan tithing that assists the needy, birth mothers and the Guatemala Mission; media communications, among them The Montana Catholic; support for historic church needs, including preservation of the Cathedral of St. Helena and, in Stevensville, St. Mary’s Mission; support for worldwide needs, including Catholic missions in the Holy Land; and support for the bishop’s consultative boards, such as the Priests’ Council and the Diocesan Finance Council.

One week after ACA’s Oct. 9-10 kickoff comes commitment weekend, Oct. 16- 17, when parishes throughout the diocese collect cards on which parishioners state their financial commitment. The campaign strives for 100 percent participation and emphasizes that no gift is too small. Support may be in the form of pledges or one-time gifts given by check, credit card or electronic funds transfer. Giving onetime gifts online is an option via the Diocese of Helena’s website at www.diocesehelena. org. Parishioners who miss commitment weekend can note their gifts subsequently. ACA supporters receive subscriptions to The Montana Catholic, and may choose either the print or an electronic edition.

Stewardship Services’ Seipp says the Diocese of Helena has “a very committed donor base” and 95 percent of the pledges for 2009 were fulfilled. Nevertheless, ACA has not met its 2009 goal. Seventythree percent of the $1.7 million has been raised. The diocese welcomes further support for the 2009 campaign even as the 2010 ACA begins.

Seipp says the country’s economic problems contributed to the shortfall, and for some contributors, support they gave to the diocesan from Age to Age capital campaign likely influenced how much they gave to ACA.

Historically, close to 8,000 donors have contributed to the appeal now under the ACA banner, which was unfurled in 2009 for the fall campaign replacing the springtime Diocesan Offertory Program. For the 2009 campaign, however, the number of donors fell to about 5,600, according to Seipp. “We’re hoping our message resonates with about 2,000 families who haven’t been active,” she says. Back in Bozeman, Jeanette Risteau has no doubt about the resonance among Izabella, mom and dad.

Izabella was born the same day the Risteaus received the Catholic Social Services of Montana letter informing them that having cleared various steps, they were added to the pool of people eligible to adopt. The Risteaus went to Billings and met the birth family of Izabella, who has Down syndrome. At just five days old, she was home in Bozeman. Last December, the adoption became final.

Editor: For more information about the ACA, visit www.diocesehelena.org.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 9, September 17, 2010.