Extension magazine - Winter 2022

48
IGNITE
Parish Partnerships
Extension | Winter 2022 49
The closing days of February
2022 saw the
beginning of devastating
attacks on Ukraine.
Upon Russian invasion,
our Ukrainian brothers
and sisters witnessed their homes
destroyed, their family members
and friends killed and their lives
completely and inconceivably
uprooted. Hearts were broken in
Ukraine and around the world.
Across the globe, parishioners at
Church of the Holy Family in Novi,
Michigan, felt especially called to
support the besieged in Ukraine.
The faith community in the Archdiocese
of Detroit had tremendous
ethnic diversity from Eastern
European nations. Some families
had recently immigrated. Several
parishioners had family members
still living in Ukraine at the time of
the invasion.
Six days after the invasion began,
the Catholic Church observed
Ash Wednesday, the start of the
Lenten season and a time of prayer,
reflection, fasting and almsgiving.
Church of the Holy Family’s pastor,
Father Bob LaCroix, used Ash
Wednesday services to urge his
parishioners to help Ukraine. “It’s
not if, but when,” Father LaCroix
recalled telling the congregation.
“Let’s make the focus for our
almsgiving this whole Lent to be to
Ukraine.”
And in their efforts to support
Ukraine, Father LaCroix and
the parish found a new partner in
Catholic Extension.
The parish learned about Catholic
Extension’s support of the
Ukrainian Catholic Church and its
humanitarian efforts to help those
in need through an email blast
Beyond parish borders
Michigan church shows inspiring support
for the Ukrainian Catholic Church
from eCatholic, a Catholic Extension
supporter since 2016. eCatholic
is a software company that
develops websites and applications
to facilitate online donations
and payments to Catholic organizations.
Although Father LaCroix
had never heard of Catholic Extension
before receiving eCatholic’s
message, he knew very quickly
that he and his parish found a
partner they could trust.
“We’ve got some generous
people here, but they don’t want
to just launch the money out into
the deep. They want to know that
it’s on the ground,” Father LaCroix
explained. “Catholic Extension
documented well that it’s helping
the people in Ukraine, so we
thought we had people we could
trust.”
Jim Fisher, the parish’s director of
communications, added, “To learn
about all the work Catholic Extension
was already doing in Ukraine
made it so natural for our money
to go to Catholic Extension to help
people get out of harm’s way.”
Catholic Extension has support-
Catholic Extension’s Parish Partnership program
With a compelling list of urgent projects to support our Church, Catholic
Extension has created a turnkey fundraising program that is easily
adapted for any parish and provides materials and guidance. Please
contact Natalie Donatello at ndonatello@catholicextension.org.
Father Bob LaCroix,
pastor of Church
of the Holy Family
in Novi, Michigan,
encouraged his
parishioners to
focus their Lenten
almsgiving on
humanitarian relief
for the suffering in
Ukraine. The parish
raised more than
$125,000 toward
Catholic Extension’s
fund supporting the
Ukrainian Catholic
Church.
ed the Ukrainian Catholic Church
in the United States since 1979,
working with its four “eparchies”
(that is, dioceses), which operate
approximately 200 Ukrainian
Catholic parishes across the country.
The Ukrainian eparchies Catholic
Extension supports in the United
States are deeply connected to
the Catholic Church in Ukraine,
regularly sponsoring projects,
which currently includes the ongoing
humanitarian efforts for the
besieged nation.
A PRIMARY MISSION BEYOND
PARISH BORDERS
Church of the Holy Family, a
community of roughly 1,200 people,
amassed a mighty effort to support
the Catholic Church’s work in
Ukraine.
After a surge of initial donations,
parishioners at Church of the
Holy Family felt so called to support
those in need in Ukraine that
they asked eCatholic, who had
said it would match donations up
to $10,000 toward Catholic
Extension’s emergency
funding, if it would be willing
to raise its matching
contribution to $50,000.
When they got word that
eCatholic would increase
it, Father LaCroix continued
to challenge his
parishioners to support
their brothers and sisters
suffering in Ukraine.
“Three or four weeks
into Lent, I get up on the
altar and say, ‘I really think
we can raise $100,000,’”
Father LaCroix recalled.
“And somebody turned to
the person next to them,
and they said, ‘I think he’s
crazy.’”
The “crazy” idea turned into
reality and an outpouring of God’s
love from the people of Novi.
In just over six weeks, Church
of the Holy Family collected
$78,000. This combined with the
$50,000 matching contribution
from eCatholic meant that the
faith community had delivered
$128,000 to support the Ukrainian
Catholic Church and bring humanitarian
aid to those in dire need.
“The ability for people to
respond generously is because
they’ve encountered Jesus and
their lives are being transformed,”
Father LaCroix said. “They know
the joy of being generous and have
experienced God’s blessing.”
The generosity of those in
Novi has touched the lives of our
brothers and sisters in Ukraine.
Their donations helped the Sisters
of Saint Basil the Great evacuate
hundreds of families, orphans
and disabled children to
A banner celebrates the accomplishments of
Church of the Holy Family in Novi, Michigan.
the Ukrainian border, and shelter
countless other displaced families
inside Ukraine (such as the sisters
featured on page 18 ). By being
a parish partner with Catholic
Extension and contributing to
funding for the Ukrainian Catholic
Church, Church of the Holy Family
showed just how much impact
a single parish can have on an entire
population of people in need.
Finally, it showed how a parish is
not a club that exists for its members.
It serves a larger mission that
goes beyond the walls of its physical
space.
“Catholics who do not think
their primary mission is beyond
their own parish borders aren’t
going to go anywhere,” Father
LaCroix said. “We have a mission
that is greater than what we do in
church. We need to go out. There’s a
special place in the heart of God for
helping those truly in need.”