2026 DPAA unveils new participation goal with announcement weekend

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The 2026 Diocesan Parish Annual Appeal (DPAA), “Live as Children of Light,” officially hit the pews, announcement weekend, March 14–15, with a video message from Bishop John Iffert. In the video, Bishop Iffert detailed the good work of the DPAA for essential Diocesan ministries, including ministry services, seminarian and clergy education, care for retired priests and support of Catholic Charities.

In support of these ministries the DPAA has a goal $2,754,000. To reach this goal, the Diocese relies on the support of many, no matter the size of the gift, said Jim Hess, director of Stewardship and Mission Services. And while the dollar amount pledged has increased year over year, the number of gifts pledged continues to decrease. In response to this trend, the Diocese has released a participation goal, alongside the individual parish monetary goal.

This new participation goal is not incentivized financially, said Mr. Hess. Rather it is “a way to encourage giving at the parish level of every size,” he said. “It stresses the truth that we are called to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with, whether we have the capacity to make a large gift or a small gift, every one of us is called to be good stewards.”

The participation goal was calculated by the number of families that donated to the 2025 DPAA per parish and increasing that number by five percent. “Every participation goal is attainable, and is a good stretch goal for the parish,” said Mr. Hess.

Explaining the goal further, Mr. Hess said, “every parish has a dollar goal, because there is a minimum required amount to run a diocese and its ministries, as well as a participation goal, because we do want to encourage everybody to pray about this, and everybody to participate in some way if they feel called to do so.”

“When we are considering giving in the Catholic context,” said Mr. Hess, “we actually have a need to give as human beings. That’s what stewardship is in the Catholic context, we are all called to be stewards of what God has given us. We’re not called, each of us to make a huge difference, but we’re called to be stewards of what God has given us.”

“It’s a good thing for us to give,” he said. “It’s a good thing to recognize that we’ve been given gifts from God and are called to invest those gifts prayerfully and where we feel called to do so.”