CHMA-Annual-Report

eparchy is reaching out to them with help from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Based in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, the eparchy has just 23 priests serving parishes in more than 30 states. But it sponsors a vigorous lay-led evangelization outreach. Among the ministries that the Catholic Home Missions Appeal supports are Mar Toma Productions and the Chaldean Voice radio program, which use broadcast, satellite, and digital media to reach Chaldeans and other Middle Eastern people scattered across the earth. The first language of the Chaldean people is Aramaic—the living language closest to that spoken by Jesus. But the eparchy offers extensive programming in English and Arabic as well, in order to reach a broad, global audience. Religious, cultural, and educational programming—including music and faith-based talk shows—takes into account complex pastoral issues of language, traumatic stress, poverty, and the disparate views of older and younger generations as the eparchy calls people to faith in Christ. DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA The Catholic Home Missions Appeal helped the Diocese of Savannah send 12 young Catholics to World Youth Day in Lisbon, a trip that included a pilgrimage to European shrines including Lourdes, Santiago de Compostela, and Fatima. Even as they stood in pouring rain outside Santiago de Compostela, broad smiles were visible across their faces, judging by this group’s Instagram posts. Pilgrimage organizers said that the goal was to inspire them to “be on fire for the Lord in their communities.” Young Catholics are a distinct minority in the US state of Georgia. This subsidy allowed the group to experience the richness of the faith and the overwhelming number and diversity of young Catholic believers worldwide. The organizers report that because of their World Youth Day experience, all 12 pilgrims have become leaders of Catholic ministry at their colleges and have also been active at parish and diocesan events.

pass their love of God on to young people. An adult faith formation program, closely linked to evangelization outreach, also offers bilingual workshops to help people deepen their faith and discern how God is calling them to serve him. DIOCESE OF EL PASO, TEXAS Most of the 779,000 Catholics of the Diocese of El Paso live in and around that city, with the rest scattered over nine counties of desert that cover nearly 60,000 square miles. The diocese strives to meet the pastoral needs of immigrants, many of whom have been traumatized by violent conflicts or poverty that induced them to flee their home nations. With help from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, the diocesan Marriage and Family Life Ministry Office provides parish-based pastoral and educational resources for thousands of individuals and families annually. Training married couples as sponsors to mentor engaged couples is a priority, especially in rural parishes. The diocese offers specialized preparation for couples entering second marriages and also promotes the Retrouvaille program to help those in troubled marriages to rebuild their relationships. The Marriage and Family Life Ministry Office encompasses natural family planning and the Office for Reverence of Life. The latter addresses a spectrum of issues, from abortion to domestic violence, and offers accompaniment for women with crisis pregnancies and women who have had abortions. CHALDEAN EPARCHY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE The Eparchy of St. Thomas of the Chaldeans serves 180,000 men, women, and children, including tens of thousands of Catholic Iraqi refugees who fled for their lives from Islamic State terrorists. The eparchy’s population covers 1.1 million square miles of the eastern and central United States. Refugees arrive in this country so traumatized by violence and by loss of their homes, families, and livelihoods that they are broken spiritually as well as emotionally. Many have lost their faith, but the