Diocesan News

Annual Catholic Appeal Will Help Fund Youth Ministry in Diocese

October 31, 2019
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Addressing the needs of the diocesan youth at her parish in Queens Village was the focus of panelist Angelica Taveras’s discussion, left. She decided to leave her career in the hospitality sector to serve as a full-time youth minister at Our Lady of Lourdes. Taveras was one of four panelists chosen as part of the Oct. 30 “Stewardship Forum” hosted by the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens. The nonprofit invited parishioners and donors from across the diocese to Terrace on the Park in Flushing to hear the results of the Generations of Faith Campaign, which is an annual fundraising initiative headed by the diocese. (Photos: Melissa Enaje)

FLUSHING —   For the first time, the Annual Catholic Appeal, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s annual fundraising campaign, will help fund youth ministry in the diocese.

The announcement was made at the same time the Generations of Faith, the diocese’s capital campaign that was launched in 2015, said it has collected more than $80 million.

The Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens (CFBQ), the nonprofit organization that is overseeing the campaigns, made the announcements on Oct. 30 at an event for donors.

“We’re looking at what are the current and the future needs of the Catholic Church of our faith community and how can we best position ourselves to support that well into the future,” John Notaro, CFBQ’s executive director, told donors at Terrace on the Park restaurant in Flushing.

 

The money the Generations of Faith has raised will be spent in three main areas. Retired clergy are slated for $30 million, parishes $40 million and youth ministry $10 million. Pledges for the campaign, which includes money not yet collected, total more than $120 million.

The money for the youth ministry can be used by parishes to hire full-time or part-time youth ministers and to train them.

Angelica Taveras — a full-time youth minister at Our Lady of Lourdes in Queens Village who left her job in the hospitality industry — to serve in the church, explained her career decision to the donors.

“That’s where I see the hope,” she said. “That’s where I see myself. I am here to serve but they’re serving me to give them the opportunity to be part of a community so that’s why I am a youth minister.”